Love is A Soccer Field
by DeanneYunFarron
Summary: Another college AU Elsanna fic, where Anna is a high school soccer star beginning her freshman year and Elsa is the junior co-captain of one of the best soccer teams in the country. Features other Disney characters and the typical drama and fun times of being a college kid.
1. Welcome to U of A

**Disclaimer: I do not own Frozen, or the characters, or anything like that 'cause I'm just a poor college kid.**

**Author's Note: Whassup? So, don't ask me how I got this plot bunny bounding around in my head, but I did, and it won't stop until I put it to paper. Also, the idea hits home for me anyway because soccer was my life for about a decade. And, because I'm sure some people will wonder before they start to read, yes, it is indeed and Elsanna fic, but no, it is not 'icest'. Keep your pants on.**

**Now, with pants held high, read on!**

* * *

"Hey, feisty-pants!"

Anna turned at the sound of the familiar voice and her face lit up. "Kristoff!"

The muscular blond was nearly knocked off his feet by Anna throwing her arms around him with impressive strength. "Whoa, you got stronger!"

She squeezed him tightly for a few more seconds before letting go with a wide smile. "It's so good to see you!"

"It's great to see you too. So, you just moved in today right?"

"Yup!"

"Have you met your roommate?"

"Mmm, no. She wasn't there when I was. Then again, I've been out of the room for about an hour now, so maybe she's there now?"

"Shouldn't you go back?"

"Probably…but I was having fun exploring the campus," Anna complained.

Kristoff laughed. "Tell you what; I'll go back with you to meet your roommate and then I'll show you around, okay?"

"Really?"

"Really."

"You're the best! Now, come on!" She hooked her arm around his and started running off in the direction of her dorm.

"Slow down, Anna! There's no hurry."

She slowed to a fast walk. "Sorry, I just really want to explore before it gets too dark!"

"You do know classes don't start until Monday right? You have tomorrow to explore too."

"Oh, yeah…" She slowed to a leisurely pace. "I'm just really excited to be here."

"I can imagine. How are things at home?"

"Oh, you know, Mom bawled her eyes out for like three days before I left and Dad sat me down for like an hour to talk about the dangers of unprotected sex and sleeping around. So, nothing out of the ordinary. They asked me to send you their love."

Kristoff sheepishly rubbed his head. "I'll admit, I do miss your parents. Hanging out over at your place was definitely more fun than hanging at mine."

Anna looked at him seriously. "How's everything with you?"

"They're still sending me money but they haven't tried to contact me otherwise."

"I'm sorry, Kristoff."

"Don't be. It's better this way. They don't have to pretend that they care enough and I don't have to pretend that they're good parents."

Anna could tell from his tone that her childhood best friend no longer wished to talk about his home life, so she quickly changed the subject. "Um, so, who's your roommate this year?"

"Oh, this guy named Eugene-well, his real name is Eugene but I guess everyone calls him Flynn."

"That's kind of weird."

Kristoff shrugged. "A little bit, yeah. But he's cool, so I'm cool."

"You're not cool."

"And you're mean."

"At least I'm cool."

The blond just shook his head. "Anyway, are you gonna be trying out for the soccer team here? I heard you were dominating last year at AHS."

"Heck yes! They start a week from Monday and I'm so pumped! You're trying out too, right?"

"Of course! I didn't get a lot of playing time last year so I worked extra hard this summer to improve. I'm gonna own those tryouts."

Anna rolled her eyes. "Don't get too cocky or you'll end up sucking when it counts."

"I didn't know you were superstitious."

"I'm not. I just believe in karma."

"I do too. But I also believe that when you work really hard for something, it'll work out in the end."

"I guess you have a point."

"Of course I do, I'm a genius," he winked. "Now, which dorm are you in again?"

"Uh, Baldr Hall?"

He snorted. "Of course…"

"What?"

He jerked his thumb to the left. "Baldr Hall is that way, Anna."

"I could've sworn it was in this direction."

"I guess you really do need to go exploring as much as you can," he sighed. "Come on, _I'll_ get us there."

He led the rest of the way and within seven minutes, they were standing in front of Baldr Hall. "See? Told you it was this way."

"Ah, whatever. I just got here; you can't expect me to get it all figured out on the first day."

"I did."

"Well, then, I guess you're a regular child prodigy."

"I know. Sometimes it's hard being so smart but I make myself feel better by helping out the less-intelligent," he joked with a pointed stare at Anna.

She punched him in the arm, hard. "Ow!" he complained. "Have you been lifting weights or something?"

"Maybe…but you should already know the answer, child prodigy," she teased.

"Whatever. Are we going to go inside or should we just stay out here so you can punch me some more?"

"I mean, I'm having fun with the latter but I guess I should cut you some slack." Anna turned on her heel and walked up to the front door, swiping her I.D. card to open it. "Come on, what are you waiting around for?"

Kristoff sighed and headed after her into the building. As they walked, he glanced at the doors, raising his eyebrows at the more decorative ones. "This dorm certainly has a lot of character."

"I know, isn't it great?" She came to a halt abruptly and Kristoff nearly crashed into her. "Wow, I nearly walked past my own room. Good going, Anna," she muttered as she unlocked the door.

"Wow!" she repeated loudly as she walked in, Kristoff letting out a low whistle as he followed.

The walls on the other side of the room, previously empty, now had several beautiful portraits hanging from them. Scenes of sunsets over the water, snow falling delicately on mountain paths, and autumn leaves blowing in the breeze through a forest greeted their eyes. There were also quite a few astronomical charts tacked up between the pictures.

A young woman with short, choppy brown hair, about Anna's age, had her back to them, as she was tacking up yet another astronomy chart. When she heard the redhead's exclamation, she started and quickly turned. "Oh, you scared me!"

"I'm sorry!" Anna immediately apologized. "We didn't mean to. I was half-expecting no one to be in here."

"Yeah, we were running a little bit behind schedule." She hopped off the bed and came to stand in front of the pair. "If you were able to get in, that must mean you're my roommate!" She stuck out a hand. "Hi, my name's Rapunzel. It's great to meet you!"

Anna shook it with a small grin. "Nice to meet you, I'm Anna!"

Rapunzel looked at Kristoff. "Oh, is this your boyfriend?"

Kristoff blushed and Anna giggled. "No, Kristoff has been my best friend since we were kids."

"Oh. It's nice to meet you, Kristoff."

"Yeah, likewise."

"So, Rapunzel, we were just about to head out and go explore the campus a bit. Would you like to come with us?"

The brunette furrowed her brow. "Well…I kind of wanted to get all of my stuff put away by tonight."

"We won't be gone forever, just a couple of hours, promise!" Anna said.

Rapunzel felt a smile growing at Anna's infectious attitude. "Alright, you've convinced me."

"Sweet! Kristoff, give us the grand tour!"

The blond spent the next two hours helping the two freshmen try and familiarize themselves with the campus, stopping every few minutes to point out something he found interesting or to explain which paths were the best to take at which times on which days.

Once it was pretty dark out, Kristoff ended the tour. "Sorry," he replied to Anna's complaint. "I've already got homework in two of my classes and I want to get it done as soon as possible."

"You've got tomorrow!"

"I've got other stuff to do tomorrow."

"Like what? Laze around and play video games all day?" she challenged.

He smirked. "You know me so well. I'll see you around, Anna. You haven't changed your phone number, have you?"

"Nope, same one."

"Awesome. Anyway, have a good night!" With a final wave, he was gone.

Anna turned to Rapunzel. "So, you know how to get back, right?"

The brunette laughed. "I think so. But if I'm wrong, it'll just be another adventure."

"I like how you think."

Sadly (at least for Anna), Rapunzel had indeed correctly remembered how to return to their dorm and they were back in their room in no time at all.

"So, do you play any sports?" Anna asked as Rapunzel continued unpacking her stuff.

She nodded. "Yeah, I play soccer. I'm going to try out next week. What about you?"

"I play soccer too, actually."

"So I'll have a friend at the tryouts, sweet!"

"Who did you play for in high school?"

"Corona High, you?"

"Arendelle High."

"Oh, you guys won the championship last year! Yeah, there was a senior named Anna Hagen who was tearing apart the…" She trailed off at Anna's sly smile. "No way! _You're _Anna Hagen?"

"Guilty as charged."

"That's crazy! You were on fire last year!"

"Thanks. I'm sure everyone here is just as good, though. They've got one of the best teams in the country!"

"I know! It was always my dream to make the cut. Hopefully I can make it a reality. You'll probably have no problem getting on it, though."

"You've got a lot of faith in me."

"Talent is talent. And you've definitely got talent," she replied with a shrug. "Anyway, we'll see how it goes at the tryouts." She stood from her bookshelf, which she'd brought from home, and walked to her closet. "I think I'm going to go take a shower."

"Okay. I think I'm going to-" She stifled a yawn with her hand. "-go to sleep, I guess."

Rapunzel giggled. "Aw, it's kind of cute that you have a bedtime."

Anna quickly checked the time. It was 10:26. "Hey!" she protested. "It's not _that _late…"

"I'm just kidding. You can go to bed at whatever time you want. You're a big girl now," the brunette continued to jest.

"You're awful." Anna threw her head back with dramatic flair, one hand on her forehead. "Oh, whatever did I do to deserve such treatment?"

"You're dramatic." Rapunzel playfully tossed a hand towel at her. "And you can keep that." She left the room.

Anna folded the towel haphazardly and tossed it on top of her desk. She'd find a place for it tomorrow. Preferring to shower in the morning, she changed into her sleepwear and hopped into bed. As her head hit the pillow, she sighed with content.

She was really looking forward to this year.

* * *

The first week of classes passed with relative boredom for Anna. The first couple of days were a blur of general information about the subjects, and learning students' names.

The day she was _really _looking forward to, the soccer tryouts, were upon her faster than she anticipated and the nerves were getting to her.

"Anna, you need to calm down. Getting all nervous now will screw up your game," Rapunzel insisted for the third time as she tied her cleats.

Anna had been ready for the last ten minutes and was currently sitting at her chair, her leg bouncing frantically. "What are you talking about? I'm totally calm! Yup, calm is my middle name! I'm so calm they should give me an award for how calm I am!"

At Rapunzel's cocked eyebrow, Anna sighed. "I know. I'm calm…kind of."

"Right…well, I'm all done here. You want to head over?"

"Heck yes!" Anna cleared her throat. "I mean, yeah, yeah let's go."

The roommates left their dorm and headed for the soccer field, conveniently only a short five minute walk away. When they got there, a couple of girls were already passing a ball around. They stopped and approached Anna and Rapunzel. "You two are here awful early; tryouts don't start for another fifteen minutes."

Rapunzel smiled. "Yeah, Anna here was a little excited."

"Hey! You're making me seem lame…"

The other girls laughed. "It's alright. I was the same way my freshman year. By the way, my name's Aurora."

"I'm Ariel," the girl with the bright red hair said after.

"I'm Rapunzel. The lame one is Anna."

"Hey!"

"I'm kidding!"

Aurora giggled. "You two are adorable. Anyway, how have you guys settled in so far?"

"I love it here!" Anna immediately replied.

Her roommate chuckled. "Yeah, I like it here a lot too."

"Glad to hear it," Ariel replied. "So, which positions do you two play?"

Anna responded with, "I'm a striker," at the same time that Rapunzel said, "I'm a central defender."

"You two are roommates and just so happen to play positions that usually oppose each other?" Ariel questioned. "That's certainly interesting."

"How'd you know we were roommates?"

Ariel smiled. "Well, you two showed up early, together. Aurora and I did the same thing last year."

"Were we that obvious?" Anna asked with a light blush.

"Kind of," Aurora teased. "But you seem cool anyway."

"Wait, you said you did it last year," Rapunzel pointed out. "Why are you here early again?"

"I'm one of the captains and Ariel here decided to come along."

"That was so nice of her!" Anna gushed.

Both Aurora and Ariel giggled and Anna blushed again. Rapunzel clapped her roommate on the back. "I told you that you were lame."

"I know-wait, what?"

"Come on, roomie, how about you try taking some shots? I'll be your goalie."

Anna gave her a determined smile. "You sure you want them to see me show you up?"

"Put your money where your mouth is," Rapunzel challenged.

"You're on!" Both girls dropped their athletic bags. Anna grabbed a ball while Rapunzel jogged over to the closest goal.

"You sure you want to do this?" Anna called.

Rapunzel snorted. "Stop trying to act-." Her words were cut off as the ball went whizzing by her head into the goal. She whipped around. "Hey, no fair, I wasn't ready!"

Anna shrugged, grinning. "I had to shut you up somehow."

The brunette tossed the ball back to Anna and spread her arms. "Try it now, hotshot!"

Anna dribbled the ball slowly toward the goal. An inside tap with her left foot placed the ball right where she wanted and she drew her right leg back to send it into the goal. Rapunzel, from her brief tenure as a goalie, noted the positioning of Anna's hips and dove toward the right side of the goal-

-only to have the ball soar past her into the high left corner. She glanced back at Anna, who grinned even wider. Rapunzel got up and dusted off her shirt. "Clever, kicking it with the outside of your foot."

"Don't be too down on yourself. Even the best goalies had a hard time blocking my shots," the redhead teased.

"Show-off."

"Talented."

"Arrogant."

"Jealous."

"Indifferent."

"Denial."

"Oh, whatever."

"Hey, you two!" Aurora called. "Come over here!"

Rapunzel lightly shoved Anna as they went to rejoin their (hopefully) soon-to-be-teammates. When they came to a stop in front of the now larger crowd, Aurora kept speaking. "So, it looks like most of you hopeful freshmen chose to show up a little early, which gives us time for introductions. Anna, why don't you start us off?"

Said redhead blushed lightly before giving a shy wave. "Hi, uh, I'm Anna. I mean, you guys probably already know that seeing as she just said it, but I figured I'd say it again in case anyone wasn't listening. N-not to say that any of you are inattentive! Just that maybe someone had to sneeze or something and didn't hear! Of course, I didn't hear a sneeze-wait, not that I'm trying to say you didn't have a reason not to hear my name, but-!"

She was cut off by Rapunzel lightly gripping her arm. Blushing even more, she turned to meet her roommate's gaze. The brunette's eyes were twinkling in amusement, a smile playing on her lips. "It's alright, Anna, don't have a spaz attack."

Anna coughed loudly, trying to hide her blush behind her hands. "I'm sorry…"

"Don't be!" Ariel cut in brightly. When Anna looked at her, she noticed that the other redhead wore a similar smile to Rapunzel's. In fact, looking around, she noticed that _all _of the other girls were smiling too.

_So I didn't just make a giant fool out of myself ?_

As if reading her mind, Ariel gave a light shake of her head. "Thank you for the…energetic introduction, Anna. Rapunzel, you're up."

The brunette gave a playful roll of her eyes. "Well, geez, I don't know how I'll ever be able to follow that!"

Everyone around them laughed while Anna ducked her head, silently cursing whichever god had chosen to make her face heat up like a road flare every time she got even _slightly _embarrassed.

Her roommate finished with, "My name's Rapunzel." One by one, each of the freshman hopefuls introduced themselves, but the only two that stuck in Anna's head were Merida, the Scottish exchange student with a mane of wild, fiery red hair, and Tiana, the dark-skinned beauty with the attitude.

After the introductions were done, Aurora clapped her hands. "Alright, ladies, we can get these tryouts started once my partner-in-crime and the rest of the team decides to grace us-."

A loud shout of laughter stole the spotlight from the co-captain and placed it on a small group of girls, all toting athletic bags, headed toward them. The shout of laughter had come from the Asian member, who was chatting animatedly with a darker skinned girl with long straight black hair and full lips. The other two, one also dark skinned and the other nearly her polar opposite, were carrying on a far less animated conversation behind the first two.

Aurora shook her lightly and shouted, "You four better pick up the pace!"

The Asian turned and shouted back with a wide smile, "We all know you won't do anything without your other half here!"

The co-captain waited until the quartet had reached her before cuffing her loud friend on the back of the head playfully. "Don't undermine my authority."

Her friend snorted and looked at the group of girls. "They know what happens if they don't respect authority: they get the boot. Simple as that."

Aurora sighed. "Why don't you four just introduce yourself? Name and position."

"Sure. I'm Mulan, the goalkeeper."

The one she'd been talking with spoke next. "I am Pocahontas, a central MD."

The other dark-skinned girl said, "I'm Jasmine, left wing."

And then the last girl said, "Snow, center defense."

Aurora nodded as Snow finished. "Alright, now we just need to figure out where-." Her eyes locked in on something behind all of them and she yelled, "ELSA! TRYOUTS STARTED THREE MINUTES AGO!"

Anna heard footsteps grow louder and pick up in speed as the owner, Elsa, jogged into everyone's view. She threw an arm around Aurora's shoulders, poking a slender finger at her friend's pout. "Chill out, Aurora, it's only three minutes."

"As a co-captain, it's your responsibility to exemplify certain rules, such as punctuality."

The platinum blonde rolled her eyes. "Yeah, because being three minutes late to a practice is _definitely_ going to cause a natural disaster or something."

"One day it might, Elsa, and then you'll feel like an asshole."

Elsa gave a fake gasp. "Oh my, Aurora, watch your language in front of the children!"

"Oh, screw you. You're late, so you get to give the longest introduction. Name, major, year, likes, and dislikes, go!"

Her co-captain rolled her eyes and gave a mocking bow. Turning on her heel, she faced the freshmen. "Alright, since SIHA here has…well, a SIHA-" The non-freshmen members of their circle laughed at this, "-I shall obey her commands. My name's Elsa, I'm a junior here at U of A and majoring in architecture. My likes include soccer, reading, drawing…"

Anna had stopped listening. All she could focus on now was the fact that her possible co-captain was drop-dead _gorgeous. _A messy braid of beautiful platinum blonde hair rested over her left shoulder, her bangs slicked back, save for one stubborn lock that hung above her left eyebrow. Her eyes were a shade of blue that Anna immediately decided was her new favorite color. Her nose was small and petite, her lips a rosy red.

Her outfit was simple, comfortable, and expected for physical activity but _damn_, the junior still managed to look like a model. A plain white tank that was tight in all the right places, clearly accentuating Elsa's rather well-endowed chest and toned abdomen met a pair of black soccer shorts at her waist. The shorts left little to Anna's imagination, as slender and toned pale legs that went on for miles were barely a foot away, in clear view of the redhead. Elsa had completed the look with black soccer socks and blue and white cleats.

Glancing out the corners of her eyes, Anna could see that she was far from the only one affected by Elsa's appearance. Pretty much every other girl there (and there was a decent amount of them) was essentially gaping at the co-captain, with looks ranging from pure admiration to longing. Her teammates were the only ones who looked at her normally, save for Snow, whose smile was almost…lecherous?

Anna had no time to ponder that any further as Elsa cleared her throat and said, "So, any questions?"

What on earth had compelled her to raise her hand, she'd didn't really know, but there she stood, hand in the air and everyone looking at her, including Elsa. The blonde's eyes were crinkled in amusement, a smirk on the edge of her lips.

_Oh my god, oh my god, she's looking at you, holy shit, smirks aren't supposed to look that sexy…fuck, Anna, get it together, she's waiting for you to ask your question! Ask it, you idiot! Wait, what? I didn't have a question, SHIT WHY DID YOU RAISE YOUR HAND ANNA?_

"Anna!"

The rushed whisper from Rapunzel snapped her back to attention and she blurted out the first thing that came to mind, "What does SIHA stand for?"

_Ok, ok, that wasn't too bad, at least it was a somewhat relevant question._

One of Elsa's eyebrows skyrocketed. "Could you repeat that?"

"Uh, um, I mean-sure, uh, wh-what does SIHA stand for?" she finally squeaked out.

The other eyebrow jumped up to meet its sister. An awkward silence stretched for several seconds, and as each passed, Anna could swear her face grew redder.

Finally, Elsa snorted, joined by giggles and laughter from her teammates. Only Aurora was unamused, her arms crossed even tighter across her chest. After the laughter died down, Elsa finally answered. "It's an acronym, stands for Stick-In-Her-Ass."

Anna couldn't help herself. She let out a snort of laughter and immediately covered her mouth, mortified. "Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry, Aurora, I didn't mean to laugh! I mean, I kind of did, because it's kind of funny but I didn't mean to laugh out loud! Not that I was planning on laughing behind your back, but-!"

Aurora held up her hands and Anna stopped. _Nice rambling, Anna, don't you ever shut your mouth?_

Aurora smiled; the redhead had an infectious energy about her. And the rambling thing was actually really cute. "It's alright, Anna. But if you and Elsa don't mind, may we start the tryouts?"

"O-of course you can! Not that you need my permission, you're the captain, after all! I mean, co-captain! Sorry, Elsa, I didn't mean to…" At Aurora's half-hearted glare, Anna trailed off. "I'm going to shut up now. Sorry."

Aurora nodded. "No need to apologize. But we do need to get started." She grinned widely. "I hope you all stretched well! Limber muscles will be your BFF for this! And if you didn't, well, you're probably screwed."

* * *

Aurora had not been joking; within thirty minutes, and she had stretched for ten before leaving her room, Anna was already beginning to feel it. This tryout, while not even a real practice, was already feeling more intense than her high school practices. Aurora and Elsa were relentless, keeping them moving constantly. But, Anna figured, you didn't get to be one of the best teams in the country without working hard for it.

The captains called them together again after two and a half hours. "I'm really impressed," Aurora started. "I've seen a lot of energy and commitment out there. While not all of you are at the same skill level, all of you are giving your best, and that's all we ask for. So, we're going to finish this off with a scrimmage. Three of us will be on one side and four on the other."

Anna was on a team with Rapunzel, Jasmine, Pocahontas, Merida, Tiana, four girls she had no name for, and Elsa. _Elsa. _

They were facing off against Aurora, Ariel, Snow, Mulan, and seven girls that she again had no name for. There were a total of four subs, split evenly, and they too remained nameless.

Both teams started with a huddle to sort out who was starting and where. The platinum blonde took charge, learning names and positions in the few minutes they had before they started.

They had the ball first, and Anna found herself in the center circle with Elsa, the team's current star player and fellow striker, favoring the left side while Anna preferred the right.

Now was her chance to shine. Her chance to prove that she belonged here, that she should be on the team.

And, dare she say it, a chance to impress Elsa.

In lieu of a whistle, Aurora just yelled, "Start!" and Elsa gently tapped the ball to Anna. She was so lost in fantasies of blowing away the competition and a certain co-captain gazing at her in admiration and…something else that she misjudged her distance to the ball and ended up stepping too far in front of it. In her haste to correct her mistake, she ended up simply tripping over it (or maybe just her own feet) and landing face-first on the unforgiving ground.

The laughter that ensued, loudest near the goal where she just knew her roommate was having a field day, caused her to keep her face parallel to the ground, silently wishing she could somehow sink through the layers of earth and end up at the molten core, or maybe just spontaneously combust out of her miserable existence. Whichever was quickest.

"Hey." A soft voice made her raise her reddened face.

Elsa was looking down at her with an apologetic smile. "Nervous?"

"Wh-what? I'm not nervous, I'm totally okay! Calm and collected, cool as a cucumber!"

At Elsa's skeptical smirk, she sighed. "…And I'm sure you can already tell that I ramble when I'm nervous."

The platinum blonde laughed, and Anna felt a smile of her own spread at the angelic sound.

_Oh geez, when did I get so sappy?_

Elsa held out a hand and Anna took it graciously. The older girl heaved the younger to her feet and Anna wiped the grass off of the front of her shirt. "Don't worry; I know you'll be great. Just shake out the jitters, okay?"

Anna chuckled nervously. "You know I'll be great? I think you're overestimating me."

"Don't say that. You're Anna Hagen, aren't you?"

"H-how did you know?"

"I went to AHS too. And I've kept up to date." She winked at Anna, who had to seriously repress the urge to swoon. "Apparently, last year, an unknown senior showed up and started handing everyone their asses."

She chuckled again, though this time it was less nervous. "That was me, yeah."

"So, I'll say again, I _know _you'll be great. Now come on, we have a scrimmage to win."

Anna stepped up her game at that point, partly because her competitive streak had finally booted up but mostly, mostly it was because of Elsa.

Not ten minutes later, Jasmine was on a breakaway, flying up the left side of the field and sending a beautiful cross in the direction of the goal. Anna, running into the penalty area from the center, jumped up and connected with her head, landing the ball safely in the goal. After her feet touched the ground again, she ran over to Jasmine and gave her a jubilant high five. "That was a perfect cross!"

Jasmine smiled. "That was a perfect header. Nice job, Anna."

The rest of her team celebrated as well, giving her congratulations and high fives. Rapunzel even gave her a quick hug.

Elsa stood at her spot outside the center circle and gave Anna an approving glance. "I told you."

Anna giggled. "Yeah, yeah, you were right. Congratulations on that goal," she joked.

Elsa smirked and clapped her lightly on the back. Anna sucked in a breath when Elsa's fingers lingered on her back for a moment before slipping away. "Don't get cocky. We've still got the rest of the scrimmage."

They scored once more, courtesy of Elsa, who took advantage of a gap in the defense and went all the way to the goal. Mulan wasn't actually trying to save any goals; she was already on the team, it wasn't her skills that needed appraisal.

Anna had scarcely believed her eyes. She herself was fast but Elsa was something else. When she broke through the defense and started running, it was as if she _flew _down the field. She had never seen anyone move that quickly.

Aurora ended the game with an, "Alright, it's over!" and called them together one last time.

"Excellent work today, all of you. Here at U of A, unlike most other schools, we only hold one tryout." Hushed murmurs from some of the girls floated along the group but Aurora silenced them with a firm look. "That means you only get one chance to impress us." Her eyes moved from girl to girl, lingering on a few, Anna included. "Some of you really impressed me, others not so much. You'll all find out in a week who made it and who didn't. Which means you're now free to go."

A couple of the girls were out of there immediately, and most followed soon after. Anna stayed behind, along with Rapunzel, Merida, Tiana, and the older girls. She had a little bit of homework to do but nothing that couldn't be done within an hour or so.

"I have to say, you four impressed me the most," Aurora spoke up. At their curious glances, she smiled. "I know I probably shouldn't say that but I don't really care. We lost some great players but I think we'll be right back up there with you new additions. Oh, but please still act surprised when I post the roster, k? Cool. Bye!" She and Ariel left together.

"Aurora's right. Our team is gonna be the shit this year!" Mulan exclaimed, exchanging a high five with a smirking Jasmine.

"Relax, Mulan, or you're going to hurt yourself and then Aurora will be pissed at both of us," Jasmine warned her friend.

"Chill, Jas, you're acting like my mom."

"Who would kill me if I brought her daughter home in a body bag."

"Geez, you're being so dramatic!"

"And who was it that knocked herself out because she was too excited to pay attention to the lamppost in her way?"

"Oh, come on! I got the A+! How could I not be excited?"

The two friends interrupted their arguing to bid everyone goodbye before heading off, their resumed quarreling oddly getting louder the farther they got. Pocahontas was gone a few minutes later, quietly saying goodbye and congratulating the freshmen on a job well done.

"Anna, Rapunzel, Tiana and I are gonna go get dinner. You wanna join?" Merida asked.

"Sure, sounds great!" Anna replied while Rapunzel nodded in agreement.

The redhead turned to the remaining pair, Elsa and Snow. "Um, would you two like to come as well?" She directed the question mostly at Elsa; Snow seemed more interested in glaring holes into her face.

Before Elsa could answer, Snow snapped, "Like we'd want to associate ourselves with a bunch of stupid freshmen? No thanks."

Anna could've sworn she heard both Merida and Tiana mutter, "Bitch," under their breaths. Rapunzel was frowning at Snow, as was Elsa. Anna, ever the positive ray of sunshine, chuckled humorlessly, trying to devolve the tension. "Uh, of course, how could I be so stupid? I'm sorry, I didn't mean to offend you."

Snow just huffed in annoyance while Elsa gave her an apologetic look. She shrugged in response and smiled. "I guess we'll just see you later."

Snow said nothing. Elsa rolled her eyes and replied, "Sure, we'll see you around. Good job out there today."

The four turned on their heels and left. Once out of earshot, Merida let out a frustrated groan. "Did you hear that Snow bitch?! She thinks she's so much better than us!"

"I know! Who the hell does she think she is?" Tiana agreed.

Rapunzel noticed that her roommate was actually quiet for once and took stock of the faraway expression on her face. Chuckling, she leaned in close to Anna. "Thinking about our new captains? Or, should I say, one of them?"

The response was immediate. Anna squeaked and nearly jumped a foot in the air. "Omg, Rapunzel, don't do that! You scared the crap out of me!"

"You didn't answer my question."

Anna reddened (she was pretty sure she spent more time red faced then not) and adjusted the bag slung over her shoulder. "Wh-what? I wasn't-I was just…"

"Nice try, Anna. The minute you laid eyes on her, I could tell you were head over heels. So, are you gonna say anything to her?"

"Pfft, as if! She's gorgeous and kind and athletic and, _unh, _and I'm just…me."

"Oh, Anna, don't sell yourself short! You're frickin' adorable, you're the sweetest little thing, and you're just as athletic."

"Yeah, yeah." Anna couldn't hide the wide smile even if she tried. The smile faltered, however, when she remembered something. "Oh, crap! I forgot my ball! You guys go on ahead, I'll meet you there!"

"You sure you can find your way?" Rapunzel joked.

"If not, I'll just spam call you. Don't wait up!" Anna started the jog back in the direction they came as the others continued toward the dining hall.

"Way to go, Anna, forgetting your ball! It's only the bread to a soccer player's butter!" she reprimanded herself as she jogged.

She could see that the lights around the field had turned on when she got close enough. She vaguely remembered where the bags had been and started that way-

-only to come to a screeching halt when she saw Elsa (as if that platinum blonde braid could belong to anyone else) locked in a tight embrace with…Snow?

Her eyes widened when she realized what was really happening.

_They're making out…that means that they must be together…and _that _means that Elsa…is off-limits. Taken. Off the market. Unavailable._

Unable to watch Elsa suck face with that _bitch _Snow any longer, she turned around and hurried off, her forgotten soccer ball the only remaining witness.

* * *

**Author's Note: Whew. That took me far longer to write than I wanted. But of course, as per usual, the reason was that the plot bunnies decided it was high time for them do the nasty and multiply by a crap ton. Sorry bout it. Let me know what you thinks and I'll see you next time. Perhaps. But first, because I'm in the mood, a little soccer humor for ya!**

**Why did the soccer player bring string to the game?**

**Wait for it, wait for it, almost theeeeere….SO SHE COULD TIE THE SCORE!**

**Geddit?**

**-DeanneYunFarron**

**P.S. The 'SIHA' bit was actually a thing in my life. One of my good friends called me that for like four years. Apparently, I was kind of a stick in the mud when I was younger. In retaliation, I called her 'DIHM' (pronounced 'DEEM') which stood for...take a guess! Just kidding, I'll tell you: 'Dick In Her Mouth'. Yeah...good times...**


	2. Officially Official

**Author's Note: HOWDY, Y'ALL?! How's all you peeps doing today? I hope your weekends are going fantastic-o and that high spirits and raised glasses (literally or figuratively…or both) continue for its duration. So, thanks to Midnight1478, who may or may not have threatened me with African death chants (scary, right?), I have decided to grace you people with the next chapter. Please, try and contain yourselves; I know it's hard. Oh, and before I forget, I'ma answer all the guest reviews…although you made it hard for me 'cause like four of you are all just 'Guest'. But anyway, here we go:**

**Guest (the first one): Thanks for lovin' her, she and I appreciate it. You shan't wait any longer for the update is heeeere.**

**Guest (the second one): Thanks! Yeah, Anna definitely doesn't strike me as the type to be a cocky showoff, like Snow (spoiler? :D), unless she has to be or is trying to prove a point. She is just a regular ray of sunshine, ain't she?**

**Skurr (thanks for having a name, but no diss to the non-namers): Thanks for thinkin' she's awesome! Yeah, I defs wasn't originally planning to have Snow as the antagonist but it just went that way. Who am I to deny my baby what she wants, right? A little piece of the rest of this story is just below!**

**Guest (the third one): HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA, LET THE HATRED FILL YOUR SOUL! I'm totally kidding…kind of. And, to be honest, I myself do not like Snow that much anyway. Or any of the other princesses that aren't independent and are around mostly just to be a damsel-in-distress. Not their fault, of course, but eh, whatever. And the update is heeeere!**

**Guest (the last one): I know…when I was writing that Snow/Elsa bit, I was all, "UNNNNNNNH…why am I doing this to Anna (and myself and my readers and Snow-haters and Elsanna shippers and etc)?" But don't worry your pretty/handsome little head about it, Elsanna fluff shall be ALL OVA DA PLACE in subsequent chapters. Along with angst.**

**Okay, now that that's all done with, read on!**

**P.S. You know, doing a little more research into the characters, I discovered that Anna is considered a strawberry-blonde. Which, I suppose I knew already, but it was easier to write 'redhead' than 'strawberry-blonde'. Ah, well. Now I've just got more replacements for her name and pronouns. Yay!**

* * *

As soon as Anna entered the dining hall and spotted Rapunzel, Merida, and Tiana, she slowly walked over to their table and threw herself into a chair.

"What's up with you?" Tiana asked.

Anna shrugged. "Nothing, I'm fine. Just…tired."

She didn't notice Rapunzel frowning skeptically at her. Suddenly, her roommate stood up and declared, "I'm going to the restroom. Anna, you're coming."

Anna's protests were ignored as the brunette took her by the arm and dragged her off to the bathroom. Once inside with the door locked, she whipped around with her arms crossed. "Alright, what's wrong?"

"Nothing, I'm fine," Anna repeated.

"You don't get to pull that shit with me. I have to share a living space with you and this down-in-the-dumps attitude you've got will infect the entire room, so out with it: what's wrong?"

"…She's dating Snow."

Rapunzel immediately knew what she was talking about. "How do you know?"

"When I went back to get my ball, I saw them making out."

"What? No way!"

"Way," Anna replied sullenly.

"How can she be dating that-that…bitch?"

"I don't know. I don't even know why it bothers me so much! I barely freaking know her!" Anna slumped against the wall. "This isn't like me. I mean, she's gorgeous and funny and cool but I _don't know her_. I have no right to act like some jealous ex or something!"

Rapunzel approached her friend and patted her softly on the head. "Anna, you're crushing on her, of course it's going to bother you."

"I know, but for crying out loud, I just met her! Seeing them together, though, it just…it made me sick."

"Well, Snow is a raging bitch and Elsa seems pretty cool, so I could also see why that would bother you."

"Unh…maybe I should just quit soccer. Then I wouldn't have to see them all the time."

Rapunzel smacked her. "No! I don't care how melancholy you're feeling, you are not quitting! You kicked ass senior year, you kicked ass at the tryouts, you'll kick ass in every game, I bet, and if Snow gets on your last nerve, and she probably will, you can kick her ass too!"

Anna looked up at the determination in her friend's eyes and giggled. "Rapunzel, have I ever told you how awesome you are?"

"No. Feel free to say it every day for the rest of our lives."

"You wish."

"You'll do it, watch." She held out a hand and pulled Anna to her feet. "Now, come on, I'm starving. I waited for your slow butt, so let's chow down."

The pair left the restroom and nearly knocked headlong into a muscular chest with blond hair. "You better watch yourself, short stuff!" they said.

Anna rolled her eyes. "Stop trying to act tough, Kristoff."

He laughed. "Trust you not to be intimidated by all this."

"Oh, you're like a giant protective teddy bear."

Rapunzel giggled while Kristoff blushed. "Anna, you can't say that! You'll ruin my rep!"

"You have a rep? How cute!" she continued to tease.

"You're terrible. Why are we friends?"

"Because you can't bear to live life without the awesomeness that is your BFF, duh."

"Of course…" He jerked a thumb toward the tables. "Anyway, you wanna sit with us? The soccer teams usually sit together."

"I don't know if I'm on the team yet."

"Bullshit. With your skill, they'll reserve your spot. Now come on, grab Rapunzel and the rest of your friends and come sit with us."

"Ugh, fine."

Kristoff walked with them back to the table they had, introduced himself to Merida and Tiana, and extended the invitation. They were on board, so Anna had no choice but to trudge after them, because there was no way she was eating alone.

There were several people seated at the large rectangular table. As they got closer, Kristoff spoke. "Hey, guys, meet the newest members of the ladies' soccer team."

Anna looked at each of them in turn. She recognized Mulan and Jasmine, who were still bickering back and forth, as well as Ariel and Aurora, who waved at them. Of course, all the boys present, she didn't recognize. Kristoff began introductions. "This is Anna, Rapunzel, Tiana, and Merida. Ladies, meet Flynn, Aladdin, Naveen, Philip, Eric, Adam, and Hans. The rest of the team isn't here, so you'll probably meet them later."

Waves, nods, and smiles were exchanged and Anna found herself seated at one end of the table with Kristoff and Hans to her left and Rapunzel and Flynn to her right. Kristoff, about to dig in to his steak, frowned toward Anna and Rapunzel. "Aren't you two going to go eat?"

Anna rolled her eyes. "Well, we _were _until this blond oaf accosted us on our way out of the bathroom."

Kristoff reddened while Rapunzel, Flynn, and Hans roared with laughter. Flynn clapped his roommate on the shoulder. "Why is it that your best friend and I are only meeting right now? She's awesome!"

The blond just mumbled under his breath as he took a large bite out of his meat. Anna flashed him an apologetic smile and he shrugged with a smile of his own.

"So, Rapunzel, wanna go get some food?" she asked the brunette.

"No, I wanna sit here and starve," her roommate responded.

"With that attitude, I may just leave you here." Anna accompanied her words with a dramatic hand over her face.

"And then you'd have one livid roommate on your hands."

"That would suck." The strawberry blonde rose from her seat. "Let's go, get a move on."

Rapunzel got up as well and stuck her tongue out. "Don't rush me."

"I do what I want." Anna stalked off with a purpose, Rapunzel rolling her eyes as she followed.

Once the two were gone, Flynn turned to Kristoff. "Dude, that Rapunzel is really cute!"

"So ask her out."

"You know I don't ask them out. They come to me," Flynn responded confidently.

"Right….using that thing you do. The…simmer?"

"The _smolder_. Geez, Kristoff, get it right!"

The blond shook his head. "I still think you just look constipated."

"You're a dick."

"A dick that can get girls without looking constipated. And I mean that in both ways," he laughed.

"Kristoff!" Anna and Rapunzel had returned. Both were toting trays loaded with food. "That is totally inappropriate!"

"I'm so sorry, Mom. It'll never happen again, I swear."

The girls plunked down in their seats. Rapunzel struck up a conversation with Flynn, while Anna started tearing into her meal with gusto.

"Geez, Anna, slow down! You'll choke," her best friend warned her.

She didn't even wait to swallow before replying, "You know as well as I do that I've learned to suppress that gag reflex."

Whatever response Kristoff had was drowned out by a familiar voice. "I'll bet it's because you sucked too much-."

"Stop being a bitch, Snow, and leave her alone."

Shocked eyes turned to her defender, Hans, before roving back to Snow…and Elsa.

_Of course that bitch would be here…_

"Watch it, Hans," Snow snapped. "Or I'll-."

"Or you'll what?" he interrupted. "Destroy me socially? Mentally? Emotionally? You may have others afraid of you, Snow, but I'm not and I never will be. So you can take your empty threats and shove them up your ass."

"Fuck you."

"You wish you could."

Snow rolled her eyes. "Screw this. We'll eat somewhere else. Come on, Els."

Elsa, who'd remained silent through the exchange, shook her head. "I'd like to eat here."

"You're fucking kidding me. Come on, you don't want to hang with these losers."

"These _losers _are my friends, Snow," she replied, glaring at her girlfriend.

"Fine! Stay here then! See if I care!" With that, Snow whipped around and stomped out of the dining hall.

Silence reigned over the table and a majority of the room, who'd witnessed the heated exchange. Anna, refusing to be bothered by the senior, simply continued to eat and was the only one who was doing so. Finally noticing Kristoff's curious look, she shrugged, finished chewing and swallowed before speaking. "You know me, Kris. Food is usually my top priority. Oh, and sleep. And soccer."

The others practically gaped at her. Hans was the first to recover and smiled warmly. "I've never seen anyone be so cool about it."

Anna grinned back at him. "Oh, I was made fun of a lot worse than that over the years. You kind of grow numb to it." It took her a few moments to realize what she'd just owned up to and she coughed awkwardly. "…And now I may as well just tell you my life story. Anyway, like I said, not a big deal."

"Well, your maturity is admirable, Anna."

"Thank you." She shoveled more food into her mouth and swallowed. "And thanks for defending me."

The spell over the hall broke as people went back to their meals and conversations, and the buzz from before gradually returned. Hans, tearing his attention from Anna for a moment, addressed Elsa. "Els, aren't you gonna sit?"

Elsa had been watching Anna, a smile slowly growing on her face. When Hans spoke, she started and blinked a few times. "Uh, what?"

"Are you gonna sit with us?" he repeated slowly.

"Oh, right, yeah…yeah."

"Then pull up a chair. Anna, would you mind scooting over so she can sit next to you?"

It was Anna's turn to start. "Wait, what?"

Hans shook his head. "Did everyone go deaf when I wasn't looking? I asked if you could scoot over so Elsa can sit next to you."

"Oh, yeah! Sure, sure." She moved closer to Kristoff while Elsa grabbed a chair from a nearby table and plopped it down next to her. She then left to go get food.

"So, Anna, I see Snow has already set her sights on you," Hans said.

Ann nodded slowly. "I don't know why, though. I've spoken maybe two sentences to her."

"If I had to guess, it's because she's jealous."

"J-jealous? Of me? Why?"

"You're Anna Hagen, the beautiful and ridiculously talented high school soccer star from AHS. She should be jealous."

Anna blushed. "Th-thank you. I mean, I didn't think I was that great of a player. I didn't even play soccer until senior year. Kristoff here had been for years, though, and when he left for college, I missed him so much that I took up the sport myself. It was kind of like he was still around."

"Anna, I didn't know I was the reason why you started playing! I'm totally flattered."

"Well, yeah, you were basically my big brother. Of course I'd miss you."

"Oh, you two are so cute!" Tiana gushed from her spot next to Naveen at the other end of the table.

"Thanks, Tiana. So, Hans, I have to ask: what's up with you and Snow?"

Hans snorted. "She doesn't like me."

"That's the understatement of the century," Elsa stated, having returned from her food run and taking her seat next to Anna, who gulped when their arms brushed.

"Why doesn't she like you?"

"Well, at first, it was because I didn't approve of her relationship with my baby sister."

"Hans!" Elsa complained. "I'm not your baby sister!"

"Oh, Els, you'll always be my baby sis. Even when I'm sixty and you're fifty-nine."

"Wait, you two are related?" Besides the fair skin and freckles, Hans and Elsa looked nothing alike.

"Technically, we're stepsiblings, but blood isn't always thicker than water. Long story short, I had a shitty dad, she had a shitty mom. Then, when our shitty parents dipped out, our not-shitty parents found each other, got married, and I gained three not-shitty younger siblings."

"I'm sorry…about your shitty parents, not your not-shitty ones. Wait, no, I'm sorry! I shouldn't have called them shitty, that's not my place."

"It's cool. They _were_ shitty. Anyway, that was the original reason why Snow didn't like me. But, of course, Elsa did what she wanted anyway, like she always does. Snow took that as an excuse to be a complete bitch all the time. I'm one of the few people who will call her out to her face and not take her bullshit."

"Oh," Anna replied lamely. "Doesn't that make your life difficult?"

He laughed. "I couldn't care less what she says about me. But, because my _baby sis _seems to see something in her that no one else does, I haven't run her out of town yet. I do hope I get the chance one day."

Elsa suddenly stood, glaring at Hans. "That's enough."

Hans quickly shot her an apologetic look. "Shit, Els, I'm sorry-."

"No you're not. Don't lie to me."

He frowned. "You're right, I'm not sorry about her. But I am sorry that I've upset you."

She sighed. "Just forget it. I'll eat something in my room."

"Elsa…"

"I said forget it." Without so much as a goodbye, Elsa walked away and out the door. Hans, sighing softly and bidding everyone an apology and farewell, rose out of his seat and followed after her.

"What the hell was that?" Rapunzel voiced.

"When it comes to Snow, that happens pretty often," Kristoff answered. "It's the only time I've ever really seen them disagree about something. Other than that, they're really close."

The rest of the dinner passed with little excitement, and all too soon, Anna found herself back in her room, getting started on her homework. What happened at the dining hall was on her mind while she worked, during her shower, while she read her novel, and when she tucked in for the night.

_It doesn't make sense. Elsa's so cool and nice and Snow is so…not. She and Hans are really close, according to Kristoff, and he doesn't like her. So, why?_

_Why is she dating someone that doesn't seem to deserve her?_

* * *

The day had arrived. Aurora had basically said they were on the team but still, Anna had her doubts. She didn't know why, of course, but there they were.

After getting out of her last afternoon class of the day, she rushed over to the soccer office, holding her breath as she spotted the two crisp sheets of paper taped on the door. She looked at the men's soccer first.

"Yes! Kristoff is a starter this year!"

Her eyes then shifted to the other sheet. And there it was:

_Anna Hagen-striker_

She sighed in relief. Why had she been worried?

"I see official congratulations are in order."

She turned around at the sound of a voice she hadn't heard in a week. "E-Elsa?"

_Holy shit…how does she manage to look so beautiful in the simplest of outfits?_

Elsa was clad in _very _skinny dark jeans, tucked into a pair of motorcycle boots. Her upper wear consisted of a blue and white flannel. The first few buttons were undone, revealing some tantalizing cleavage. Anna had to exert an extreme amount of self-control to keep her eyes from drifting downward.

The platinum blonde nodded with a smile. "Great job making the team. Not that I had any doubt, but I'm sure you did."

Anna chuckled nervously. "Was I that obvious?"

"A little bit. It was clear that you had doubt in your abilities, though I can't imagine why. You're a natural at the game. But I was surprised when you mentioned that you hadn't played until your senior year."

_She was listening to me?_

"Of course I was. I was sitting right next to you."

_Nice, Anna. _"Right, right. So…um, are you okay?"

Elsa cocked an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"Well, the last time I saw you, at dinner…you sort of stormed off." When Elsa frowned, she gulped. "W-wait, that sounded kind of bad. I mean, you did storm off, but you had a good reason too! I don't think Hans saw it that way, of course, but…shit, I don't mean to bring up familial issues, not to say that you have any issues-ugh, I'm just gonna stop talking now."

Elsa had been silently regarding her while she rambled, but when she finished, the older girl smiled warmly. "You're too cute."

_Oh my god, she just called you cute. Holy shit, I think my heart just stopped. Wait, hold on, she's talking again. Focus, Anna, focus!_

"-that you care. I'll be alright. Hans has never been good at staying quiet about things that bother him."

"I'm sure he's just trying to protect you, like any good brother should."

"Well, he needs to learn that I can take care of myself."

"I'm sure you can and I'm sure he knows it too but you know older brothers, it's their job. Kristoff was the same way. He nearly chased off my last girlfriend after she made the mistake of insulting our parents."

"Oh, so you two _are _related?"

"Huh?" It took Anna a moment to figure out Elsa's reasoning. "Oh, right. See, Kristoff's parents are...well, they're pricks, to put it simply. We unofficially adopted him into our family about a decade ago."

"I'm sorry to hear that."

"Yeah, it's sucks pretty bad for him. But, I gained an awesome big brother and my parents gained an awesome son. Anyway, what was I saying? Oh, yeah, so he was ready to throw down with her but I had already kicked her to the curb."

Elsa chuckled. "Something tells me you'd be a regular old fireball."

"Oh, I can be a handful when I want. She deserved it, anyway."

"That she did."

They fell into a comfortable silence until Anna accidentally blurted out what she was thinking, "Why are you dating Snow?"

Elsa only had a second to comprehend what was asked before Anna was rambling again. "Oh my god, I am so sorry! That was totally not my place to ask! I shouldn't question your decisions; I mean clearly Snow must be nice _sometimes _if you're dating her, right? Ah, shit, that wasn't what I meant either. I'm sorry-."

The platinum blonde held up her hands to cease Anna's mouth vomit. "It's okay, Anna."

_God, the way she says my name…_

Elsa sighed. "Truthfully, I don't know why I'm dating her. I thought I did, in the beginning, but now I'm not really sure-." She stopped abruptly and reddened. "Uh, sorry, I shouldn't be dropping my baggage on you. We hardly know each other. But, for some reason, you're really easy to talk to…"

Anna smiled when Elsa said this. Confidence rushed through her and she twisted to grab a pen out of her backpack. Reaching out, she took Elsa's hand and wrote down her number.

_Holy crap, Anna, what are you doing?_

_She's not saying anything, though…just go with it, Hagen. Go with it._

"Since I'm so easy to talk to, here's my number. If you ever need to talk to someone, I'd be glad to be that someone."

Elsa looked down at her hand with a smirk. "Thanks, but you do know we have phones, right? You didn't have to write it down like this."

As her words registered, Anna could feel a blush spreading across her cheeks and she lowered her head. "And now I feel like an idiot."

"Don't." A cool hand gently clasped Anna's chin and lifted her head to gaze into icy blue eyes. "This is very kind, Anna. Thank you."

Several seconds had passed, and Anna had yet to respond, still staring dumbly into Elsa's eyes.

_Say something, Hagen! ANYTHING!_

"Uh…yeah…" Her voice, incapable of stringing together a coherent sentence as it was, seemed to snap her out of her stupor and she recovered. "I mean, yeah! It's no problem, really. I'm a good listener."

_And I could listen to your voice for hours._

"Sometimes all we need is someone to listen to us," Elsa said, her tone sad.

Anna didn't like seeing the normally confident blonde like this. Hoping she wasn't crossing any boundaries, she tentatively took Elsa's hand in her own. When the older girl looked at her questioningly, she offered up a shy smile. "Hey, don't be sad. It's not a good color on you." When Elsa chuckled quietly, she continued on, emboldened. "And you're right; sometimes all we really need _is _a good listener. So, please, if you ever need to talk, keep me in mind. I'd like to help."

Of all the possibilities she'd envisioned, what happened next had not been one of them. Elsa drew her into a warm embrace, resting her head on top of Anna's. Slowly, the redhead's arms rose to wrap around Elsa's waist. They stayed that way for several moments before Elsa drew away, but not before gently kissing Anna on the forehead. "Thank you, Anna."

"I, uh, you're welcome." She let her arms drop and found she missed the contact already.

"I'll see you at practice tomorrow." Elsa turned around and walked away.

Anna watched her leave, her hand unconsciously moving to touch her forehead, where she could still feel Elsa's lips on her skin.

_They were so soft…oh man, Hagen, I think you've got it bad._

* * *

"Hey, Rapunzel," Anna greeted her roommate as she walked in. "Did you go check the list?"

"Heck yes! It's official, we are now part of the University of Arendelle Frost Hounds soccer team!" She held up a hand and Anna smacked her high five. "Uh, Anna?"

"What?"

Rapunzel pointed. "Why do you have lipstick on your forehead?"

Anna blushed and rubbed her fingers on her forehead where Elsa had kissed her. Sure enough, her digits came back red. "Holy-I was walking around with this on my forehead?"

Her roommate crossed her arms with a knowing smirk. "So, who was it?"

Anna tried playing dumb. "Who was what?"

"Don't play stupid with me, who kissed you?"

"…Elsa."

"What?!" Rapunzel squealed. "Tell me everything, now!"

"It's nothing special. She showed up at the office and we started talking and I idiotically asked why she was dating Snow and she said she didn't know why anymore and that she didn't mean to dump her shit on me but that I'm really easy to talk to so then I gave her my number and asked her to text or call when she needed to talk, you know, 'cause I'm a good listener and then she hugged me and then she kissed me." Anna sucked in a breath when she finished.

"Hmm…so she doesn't know why she's dating Snow anymore? Did you investigate any further?"

"Of course not! I'd like to be there for her if she needs it but I'm not gonna pry."

"That's mighty mature of you, Anna."

"I've been told before."

"But are you gonna be able to do it?"

"Do what?"

"You like her. More than you realize, I think. You sure you're gonna be able to handle listening to her talk about the problems she's having with her _girlfriend?_"

"I can be friends with her!" Anna replied hotly.

"Wh-of course you can! That wasn't what I meant at all! I just don't want to see you get hurt."

Anna sighed and shook her head. "I'm sorry, Rapunzel. I shouldn't have snapped at you. Thanks for looking out for me."

"Of course. As your soon-to-be other BFF, it's my job. Bros before ho's, dude."

She chuckled. "You're awesome."

"See? Told you you'd recognize my awesomeness before long."

"Yeah, yeah, don't get cocky."

"Not cocky, confident."

"Arrogant."

"Jealous."

"Pff…I'm awesome!"

"Someone's lying to you, Anna dear."

"You're a bitch."

"Yeah, but I'm _your _bitch."

"Really…?"

"Wait, what? No, hold on, that's not what I meant!"

"No, no, you said it yourself: you're my bitch."

"Ugh."

"Love you."

"Whatever."

A knock sounded on their door. "Anna, Rapunzel? You guys in there?"

Anna strode over and opened it to reveal Kristoff. "How'd you get in here?"

"Hello to you too. And chill, I'm not some creeper who has access to your dorm whenever I want; some girl let me in."

"Oh, okay. What's up?" She moved aside to let the blond in and he went to take a seat on Anna's chair.

"Did you guys go to the office?"

Rapunzel nodded. "We're in."

"Nice! You're official Frost Hounds! Welcome to the club. So, I came by because I have a couple things to tell you guys. One, the first party is this Friday, and attendance is mandatory for soccer players."

"Why?"

"We're the ones throwing the party. The soccer house hosts a few every year and the first one is always the most important, sets the mood for the rest."

"Okay, sounds like fun! What else?"

"First practice is tomorrow, attendance obviously mandatory, but especially so because you have to meet the coach. The guys and girls teams usually practice together because we share our coach."

"Really? Why not have two coaches?"

"Oaken is a huge softie and thinks of all of us as one giant family. Other coaches have tried to come in but he's run off every one."

"Uh, is he scary?"

Kristoff laughed. "He's large and imposing but seriously, a giant softie. The other coaches were too intense in his eyes. But, don't make him angry. He owns a store in town too and I've heard stories of him literally _throwing _people out."

"Sounds…interesting."

"Don't worry, it'll be fine. He'll love you two, I know it."

"If you say so. Anything else?"

Kristoff frowned, thinking. "Hmm…no, I think that was it." Looking closer at Anna, he chuckled. "Uh, Anna, why do you have red smeared on your forehead?"

Immediately, her hand was rubbing frantically. "Oh, come _on, _it's still there? I thought I got rid of it! Thanks for telling me, Rapunzel!"

Her roommate shrugged innocently, her eyes twinkling. "What? I didn't notice."

"So, who kissed you?"

"Elsa!" Rapunzel answered.

Kristoff's eyes widened. "What?"

"Long story. She was just thanking me."

The blond frowned again, deeper this time. "Be careful, Anna."

Anna rolled her eyes. "And why do I need to be careful?"

"Look, Elsa is cool, don't get me wrong. It's just, the fact that she's dating Snow makes me question her judgment."

"She admitted herself she doesn't know why she's dating her anymore." She didn't know why she felt like she needed to defend Elsa, but here she was. "All I did was give her my number and offer her someone to talk to. It wasn't an engagement ring."

"I know, I'm just looking out for you. I don't want to see you get hurt."

"Yeah, I know. I appreciate it, you guys, but I can take care of myself."

"We know that, Feisty Pants. But it's my job."

"_Our _job," Rapunzel corrected him.

He chuckled. "That's what I said, our job." He got up from Anna's desk chair. "Well, alright, that was all I needed to say. You ladies enjoy the rest of your night and I'll see you tomorrow." He headed to the door but paused and looked back at Rapunzel. "Oh, Flynn said to tell you 'what's up'."

Rapunzel blushed. "Did he? Could you tell him I said hey?"

"Sure. Good night." He left the room.

Anna smirked at her roommate. "Flynn, huh? You gonna get at that?"

"Oh my god, Anna!"

"What? You can tease me about Elsa but I can't tease you about Flynn?"

"No, you can't." She swiveled in her chair to return to her homework. "And his name is _Eugene_."

"You call him by his real name? Oh, you've got it bad!"

"And you don't?" she challenged, effectively shutting Anna up. She stuck her tongue out at her roommate. "And don't stick your tongue out at me, young lady."

"How the hell did you know?"

Rapunzel glanced back. "I took a guess, actually. But thank you for confirming it."

"Ugh, screw you."

"You love me."

"Someone's lying to you, Rapunzel dear."

"You can't use my lines against me!"

"I just did." She stuck her tongue out one more time before hopping into her bed and opening her novel. Suddenly, her phone buzzed from her desk and she grabbed it, unlocking it without looking at who had texted.

_Hey Anna, it's Elsa. You gave me your number so I figured it's only fair I give you mine._

"Rapunzel, she just texted me."

Her roommate said nothing as she pushed away from her desk, her computer chair bumping to a stop at the edge of Anna's bed. "What'd she say?" Anna showed her the phone. "Play it cool, Hagen."

The redhead rolled her eyes as she started typing out a response.

_Oh, hey! That totally makes sense._

"Anna, you sound like an idiot, why'd you send her that?"

"I didn't mean to hit send! Hold on!"

_Shit, sorry, that sounded super lame. Normally, I'm more than capable of sounding at least semi-intelligent._

It was a couple minutes before her phone buzzed with a response.

_I happen to think you're highly intelligent. Anyway, I just wanted to say thanks again for today. It was really sweet of you to do that for someone you hardly know._

"She thinks I'm intelligent…"

"Focus, Anna!"

"Okay, okay…"

_It's no problem, really. I love helping. And besides, what better way to get to know someone than by talking to them?_

"Did you really ask her that? She's not an idiot."

"Well, what the hell was I supposed to say?"

Her phone buzzed again and the mini argument was forgotten.

_That's very true. See? I knew you were smart ;)_

"She used a winky-face! She used a _winky-face!_"

"Be cool, Anna. Be cool."

_Yup, regular old prodigy over here. It takes true genius to be able to grasp the obvious._

"Nice, nice, good use of humor."

"Thank you, thank you."

_Intelligent and funny? I don't know how much more I can handle, Anna._

"Okay, she's responsive, that's good. Keep being cool."

"No shit."

_Oh, there's more to me than just that. You'll just have to stick around to find out._

"Doesn't that seem a bit too flirty to you?"

"What? Shit, it shouldn't be flirty at all, she has a girlfriend!" The phone buzzed again and she looked at the message apprehensively.

_I guess you're stuck with me, then._

The two girls traded a look. "Did she just-?"

"I think she did."

_I'm sure I can think of worse people to be stuck with._

"Anna…you're being flirty again."

"Damn it!"

_I could too :) anyway, it's getting kind of late, so I'll let you be. See you at practice tomorrow._

Anna was speechless as she typed her response.

_See you tomorrow! Good night, sleep tight, don't let the bed bugs bite!_

"Anna…that was not cool."

"You think I don't know that?"

_You're adorable. Good night, Anna._

She let her phone drop to her desk. "She called me adorable."

"Wow…trust you to be the one who's uncool but still cool."

"Hey!"

"I'm just kidding, relax." She stretched and yawned. "I need to get back to my homework but that was fun, we should do it again."

"You're an idiot."

"I'm your idiot."

"And my bitch."

"I hate you."

"I love you too."

The brunette rolled her eyes as she returned to her homework. Anna lay back on her pillows and opened her book to read but her mind remained on the conversation for the rest of the night.

* * *

**A/N: There you go. Midnight1478, I do hope you told the African death chanters to hold off on African death chanting!**

**-DeanneYunFarron**

**P.S. More soccer humor! Okay:**

**Why are soccer players good at math?**

**Wait for it, wait for it…They know how to use their heads! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH.**

**Geddit?**


	3. Practice Makes Perfect

**Author's Note: Ummm...potatoes?**

* * *

"So, you ready for our first practice as Frost Hounds?" Rapunzel asked as they got close to the field.

"Oh, hell yeah! I was _born _ready!"

"Just, try not to break anything in your haste to impress our captain, okay?"

"What? I'm not gonna-I don't have to-why would you say that? We're just friends! Or, we will be."

"Uh huh…I hope you know you aren't convincing anyone."

"I can't say I know what you're talking about."

Rapunzel rolled her eyes. "Alright, Anna, I'll drop it."

"Thank you."

"Just like the way you wish Elsa would drop her-."

"_Rapunzel!_"

"What?"

"Just…please stop."

"Okay, okay, I'll stop…for now."

"Ugh."

"Hey, you two!" Aurora called from across the field. "Get a move on, there's some people you have to meet!"

The pair increased their pace to a light jog and came to a stop next to their co-captain. "Okay, so you guys already know Kristoff, Hans, Flynn, Naveen, Aladdin, Philip, Eric, and Adam. To finish off their team, meet John, Shang, and Tarzan. Guys, meet Anna and Rapunzel, the last two of the new recruits."

Anna waved happily while Rapunzel just smiled. Aurora nodded and looked around. "So, of course, Elsa is late, and where the heck is Coach-?"

"Hoo-hoo!" A cheery Scandinavian accent floated toward them as the large owner of the voice waddled toward them. "Sorry I'm late, ya!"

"Hey, Coach," Aurora greeted him. "You've got a few new players to meet. This is…"

Aurora's voice fell away as Anna took in her new coach. To say the man was tall would be an understatement; she practically had to bend over backward just to see his face. He was dressed in a very loud polo and track pants. It was a palette of different colors, not really matching, yet already Anna could not see the man wearing anything more subdued. She also didn't know they made athletic clothing that colorful…

"Anna!"

She jumped. "Wh-what?!"

Aurora rolled her eyes. "I know it's a lot to take in but can you at least pretend you're paying attention?"

"Sorry! I, uh…"

"It's alright, it's alright. Anyway, as I was saying, Coach, meet Anna, our new striker."

"Anna? Anna _Hagen_?" Oaken asked excitedly.

"Yeah, that's me!"

The giant of a man ruffled her hair affectionately. "You are very talented, ya? I'm happy to have ya on our team! You should be right at home here, ya?"

She giggled. "Thank you, Coach. I'm excited to be here."

He clapped his hands. "Okay! Time to start pra-wait, where is Elsa?"

"I'm sure she'll show up eventually," Aurora grumbled.

"Ooh, that's no good. She can be late any other time but this practice is important, ya?" Oaken turned to Snow. "Snow, do you know where she is?"

Snow huffed. "I didn't realize I was supposed to keep tabs on her."

Oaken frowned. "That is not what I was implying."

"No? Notice how you didn't ask anyone else but me."

Anna could've slapped her. How could Snow be so rude to her own coach? Not just that, but _Oaken? _The guy was a walking teddy bear, she could already tell.

"Now, Snow, I've said before, you need to watch your attitude, ya? Unless you'd like to spend this entire practice running laps?" Oaken warned her.

She huffed again but said nothing. Oaken shook his head and addressed the rest of the players. "Does no one know where she is?"

Before anyone could answer, a loud shout came from the opposite side of the field, "Don't start without me!"

Elsa was running toward them, her platinum braid bouncing against her back. Anna could've sworn that in the light of the sun, it was sparkling.

The co-captain skidded to a stop next to them. "I am _so _sorry I'm late! I'd say it'll never happen again-."

"-but we all know that's a lie," Aurora finished for her. "Where the hell were you, Els? This was the one time you couldn't be late!"

"I know, I know, it's just, Olaf called and he was crying and I couldn't just hang up on the little guy."

Aurora sighed. "Is he okay?"

"Yeah, he was just missing me; he's alright, I calmed him down."

"He called you?" Hans suddenly asked. "Why didn't he call me?"

"Maybe he likes me more," Elsa teased with a smirk.

Her stepbrother rolled his eyes. "That'll be the day."

"Don't get pissy just because you know it's the truth."

"Hoo-hoo!" Oaken interrupted. "While I am enjoying this sibling rivalry, we should start practice now, ya?"

"Sorry, Oaken," the pair apologized simultaneously.

"No, no, it's okay. Aurora, Elsa, Hans, Shang, could you please lead the warm-ups? I need to call Ralf and check on things at home. Bye-bye!"

He hurried off in the direction of the office as the four captains organized the teams into two groups of two lines to begin the practice.

After three hours of drills, Anna was feeling deliciously sore and tired. She enjoyed the feeling, it made her feel accomplished. If every practice was like this, she would have no complaints.

Oaken had come out to run the practice after finishing his phone call. Anna could see why he was the coach of one of the best teams around. He knew all of his players' strengths and what they needed to work on. And after only one practice, he could tell that Merida, while an excellent midfielder, sometimes had trouble with her speed, and that Rapunzel tended to favor her left foot. The redhead wouldn't have caught on to these things, but then again, she wasn't a coach.

"Hoo-hoo! All of you come over here, please!"

After gathering in a circle around him, he continued. "So, I am very happy with this practice. All of the new players did excellent and I think we're going to have a great season! Practice is over for today. Get a good night's rest and I'll see you tomorrow, ya? Bye bye!"

Everyone stuck around after Oaken left, carrying on smaller conversations as they dressed down a bit. Anna removed her cleats, socks and shin guards and put on her black and white slide sandals. Her hair had been in two braids for practice but she undid them now, letting the strawberry blonde tresses tumble down her shoulders.

Rapunzel, who was sitting next to her, whistled approvingly. "Damn, girl, you should let your hair down more often!"

She punched her roommate in the shoulder. "Shut up."

"She's right, feisty-pants," Kristoff joined in. "Why don't you wear it down more?"

"I don't know. I'm usually pretty active and keeping it in braids is easiest for that," Anna answered with a nonchalant shrug.

"I guess that makes sense," Kristoff replied.

"What do you think they're talking about?" Rapunzel asked abruptly.

"Who?"

She jerked her thumb toward Elsa and Snow, who were a ways away from the other, presumably so they wouldn't be overheard. "Who else?"

Kristoff frowned. "They look more like they're arguing."

"Wonder what they're arguing about."

As if the brunette's words had been heard, Elsa's voice rose high enough to reach their ears. "What are you getting so worked up about, Snow?"

"Are you fucking stupid? I saw the looks you were giving her all during practice!"

"Am _I _fucking stupid?! You're out of your damn mind! I look at _every _girl here! They're my teammates and my friends!"

"Bullshit! The way you were looking at _her _was-!"

"That's enough! I don't know why you're getting so jealous!"

"Jealous? I'm not fucking jealous!"

Elsa rubbed her temples. "Whatever, Snow. If you want to deny that you're jealous, fine. I'm not doing this with you anymore, not here."

Snow clenched her fists. "Fuck you, then. I'm outta here." She stalked over to the bags, grabbed hers, threw it over her shoulder and left the field, but not before shooting Anna a nasty look.

Anna blinked twice. "D-did anyone else see that?"

She took the silence and slightly worried faces as affirmation.

* * *

"Hey, Anna."

Anna squeaked and dropped the books she was carrying. Turning around, she discovered her greeter to be none other than Elsa, who was smirking at her. "Oh, Elsa! I wasn't expecting to see you! I mean, we go to the same university so it would make sense that we would run into each other, I guess, but I didn't think I'd see you. Wait, not that I didn't want to see you but-ah, I'm rambling again, aren't I?"

Elsa nodded. "Yeah, you are, but don't worry too much about it." She stooped down and picked up Anna's books, handing them to her. "Here you go."

"Thanks! So, where are you headed?"

"I'm the new T.A. for one of the chemistry labs this semester. It's the first one, so I wanted to be early. How about you? Where are…" She trailed off as she realized Anna had stopped walking and was just standing in the middle of the hall, staring at her. "What?"

"You're not the T.A. for-" Anna quickly looked down at the front of her binder, "-Professor Weselton, are you?"

Elsa's eyebrow rose. "I am, actually. You're in his class?"

"Yeah…"

"Cool. It's always useful to be friends with the T.A., right?"

_Oh my god, Anna, she just said you were friends!_

_Play it cool, Hagen, you've been friends with beautiful girls before!_

_Not like her…_

"Anna?"

"What? What?"

"You okay? You spaced out. Again."

"Sorry, sorry, just having an internal argument." _Holy crap, Anna, think before you speak._ "Why did I tell you that? Now I just sound insane!"

Elsa chuckled. "It's cool, Anna. Stop beating yourself up over little things."

"It's just who I am, I guess."

"Not one of your best qualities but I guess you just wouldn't be Anna if you weren't like that."

"Thanks, I think?"

"You're welcome," the blonde replied with a wink. The two came to a stop in front of room 107. "Here we are." Elsa pulled open the door and held it. "After you, my Lady."

Anna rolled her eyes and gave a mock curtsy. "Oh, thank you, my honorable knight."

Elsa chuckled and lightly pushed Anna through the door. The strawberry blonde dropped her stuff in one of the cubicles by the front and picked a random lab table. She and Elsa made small talk until more people started filing in.

Nearly all of the seats were full when Professor Weselton came in. He was short man with white hair and a relatively impressive mustache, which didn't divert attention from his relatively large nose.

"Good afternoon, class, I am Profesor Weselton! Welcome to Chem Lab 101! So, I will take this time to apologize for starting class a week late. I came down with a serious illness but I'm better now. Anyway, we will be skipping the first lab. If you do not know how to measure and weigh, then I don't know how you would've gotten into this university in the first place!" He laughed to himself, unaware of his students looking at him as if he was an enigma of the universe. "So, whoever you're standing next to will be your lab partner for the rest of the semester. If you do not like them, please refrain from showcasing said dislike in class. Instead, you will see me during office hours and we can discuss any problems privately. Now, if you'll open your lab books to-."

The door to the classroom was thrown open as a girl burst through. "I am so sorry, sir! I didn't mean to be late on the first day!"

"What's your name, young lady?"

"Riley O'Connell, sir."

"Ah, yes. I know of your…circumstances. Please just take a seat so that I may continue."

"Yes, sir. Thank you, sir." She placed her stuff by the cubicles and glanced around the classroom quickly. When her eyes landed on Anna, she offered up a bright smile. The girl grinned back and headed over to the table. "May I?"

"Of course!"

"Thanks."

After Weselton finished the introductions, he released the class to get started. As she gathered materials, Anna kept stealing glances at her new partner, Riley. The girl was, without a doubt, hot. Long raven locks, stormy grey eyes…

"Like what you see?"

Anna started, only now noticing that Riley was looking back at her with a smile. "Oh my god, I'm so sorry, I didn't meant to stare!"

"No worries. It wouldn't be the first time and it sure as hell won't be the last." The two returned to their lab station laden with what they needed. "So, time for proper introductions. I'm Riley O'Connell."

"Anna Hagen, it's nice to meet you."

"Anna Hagen, huh? Soccer star of Arendelle High last year?"

"How many people know about me here?"

"Probably most, if not all. Soccer _is _kind of a big deal 'round these parts."

"I guess…so, you're not from around here, are you?"

"Was it the accent?"

"Yup."

"I'm from Ireland. Moved about five years ago but I've still got a bit of the accent."

"I like it! I've always wanted to visit Ireland."

"Well, if you're as cool as you seem, maybe one day I'll take you there."

"Really? That would be awesome!"

"Sure, why not? It's a great place and I miss it every day."

"Why'd you move?" Anna blurted. She then slapped a hand over her mouth. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't just ask things like that! You don't have to tell me."

Riley gently took Anna's hand away from her mouth. "It's alright, Anna. You don't need to keep apologizing. If you do or say anything that bothers me, trust me, you'll know. I won't be very discreet about it."

"Oh…okay."

"Anyway, seeing as we just met, I won't tell you the full story, but I will say that it wasn't by choice."

"I'm sorry."

Riley shook her head. "There you go again, apologizing. Anna, it wasn't your fault." She poked Anna's arm. "But thank you for saying it."

"You're welcome! So, you want to get started on this lab?"

"Not really, I hate chemistry."

"What do you not hate?" Anna teased as she began measuring out some sodium phosphate.

"Philosophy."

"Oh, really? What do you like about it?"

"What's not to like? It's the science of thinking and thinking is kind of all I do. All anyone does, really."

"Is it your major?"

"Damn straight, with a double minor in English and psychology. The psych is in case I decide to go on the psychiatrist route and the English is just because I love it."

"At least you're happy with it. I can't say I enjoy philosophy too much."

"You and nearly every other person I've met."

"I'm sorry we can't all be high-caliber thinkers like you."

"And you've got a sarcastic side…I have to say, Anna, I think this is the start of a beautiful friendship."

Anna giggled. "To new friends." She held up the beaker of sodium phosphate in a toast.

Riley raised her own beaker of silver nitrate. "To new friends."

They clinked glasses and immediately, the professor was at their table. "Ladies! Do not play around with the chemicals!"

"But they're harmless, professor. You said it yourself," Riley responded.

He reddened. "That's very true, but-oh, whatever! Don't come complaining to me when your skin gets stained!" He stalked off to another table, no doubt to harass the student who'd just sneezed into their beaker.

Anna and Riley shared a laugh. Then, Riley narrowed her eyes over Anna's shoulder. "Uh, you know our T.A. is looking at you, right?"

"What?" Anna whipped her head around just in time to see Elsa glance away, her lips pressed into a thin line. She whipped back around to Riley. "Was she really?"

Riley nodded with a grin. "She didn't even notice that I was looking at her. Got the hots for her, huh?"

"Wh-what? No I don't!"

"Uh huh. I think she feels the same."

"_What?!_ How in the hell do you know that?"

"Well, I'm no love expert, but I do know a thing or two about body language and all that. She's into you too. She may just not know it yet."

Anna waved her comment away. "No, I don't think so. Besides, she has a girlfriend."

"Hmm." Riley raised her eyebrows as she stared past Anna again. "With the way she's looking at you, I don't think she'll have one for much longer."

* * *

Riley's words stuck with Anna for the rest of the day and into the next. Rapunzel, who was in three of her classes, finally said something.

"Earth to Anna!" She punctuated her words by slamming her hands down on the table they were currently sitting at.

Anna jumped. "Holy shit, Rapunzel, don't do that!"

"Well, maybe if you paid attention to _one _word I spoke, I wouldn't have to!" the brunette shot back.

"Wait, what? You were talking to me right now?"

Rapunzel rolled her eyes. "Gee, Anna, we're sitting at a table with just the two of us and words were coming out of my mouth. Who the hell else was I talking to?"

"I'm sorry, I've just been…distracted."

"No shit. Talk to me, what's up?" Her roommate's voice was now tinged with worry.

Anna noticed and shook her head. "I'm okay, Punz. I just…well, my lab partner said something yesterday and I haven't been able to stop thinking about it."

"Do I need to kill someone for you?" Rapunzel asked with a straight face.

"What? No, oh my god, Rapunzel, you would kill someone for me?"

"Well, not me personally, but I may or may not know a guy…"

"I'm actually a little scared that you're being completely serious…but, no I don't need you to kill anyone. My lab partner is cool. She…well, she said that Elsa was staring at me yesterday in chemistry lab and-."

Rapunzel held up her hands. "Wait, why was Elsa in your chem lab?"

"She's my T.A."

"Way to tell me sooner, Anna! You do know that as roommates, we're supposed to share everything, right?"

"Uh, no, that would only be if I liked you."

"You're a bitch."

"Ah, but you're _my _bitch, remember?"

"Are you ever gonna let me live that down?"

"Of course not, do I look like an idiot? Anyway, the reason I didn't tell you sooner was because, as I said, I was distracted."

"Excuses, excuses."

Anna gave her a mock frown. "If you keep being mean, I just won't tell you."

"Really? You wouldn't tell me?"

"Maybe if you apologize…"

"Fine, I'm sorry."

Anna snorted. "You call that an apology? Try again."

"You're freaking kidding, right?"

The strawberry blonde crossed her arms tightly.

"Oh my god, you're actually gonna make me…fine." She gazed into Anna's eyes. "Anna, I am so very sorry for being mean. Please forgive me."

Her roommate scrunched her nose. "Gross, why are you getting all sappy on me?"

"You told me that I had to mean it!"

"Well, yeah, but you didn't have to go all Broadway on me, geez."

"Are you gonna tell me or what?" Rapunzel nearly screamed out of frustration.

Anna grinned. "It's fun getting you all riled up."

"Now who's being mean?"

"Guilty as charged. Okay, so after Riley said that-."

"Wait, who the heck's Riley?"

Anna gave her a look. "My lab partner, duh."

"How was I supposed to know that?"

"If I mention only my lab partner, Elsa, and myself…" Anna let the rest of the sentence simply hang in the air.

"…then obviously whatever name you mention that's not 'Elsa' or 'Anna' must be your lab partner," the brunette finished. "I'm _so _sorry for not picking up on that 'til now."

"You have to mean it, remember?"

"If you make me apologize 'properly' again…"

"Relax, I won't. So, after Riley told me that, I looked over at Elsa and she looked away. And then Riley said something about Elsa liking me."

"How did she figure that?"

"The way that Elsa was looking at me."

"Is she some kind of love expert?"

"I don't think so."

Rapunzel rubbed her chin. "Hmm…I suppose there's only one way to know for sure."

"What's that?"

"Today at practice, I'll keep an eye out."

"Oh, gee, my knight in shining armor."

"You're welcome."

"Whatever."

"Is that all Riley said?"

"Well, no, but the other part I was _really _unconvinced by."

"Which was?"

"When she said that Elsa liked me, I denied it, of course, and also mentioned that she has a girlfriend. Then Riley said that with the way she was looking at me, she wouldn't be surprised if Elsa didn't have one for much longer."

"Whoa! That's…big news."

"You don't think she's right, do you?"

"I mean, Elsa already seems like she's got problems with Snow…" Rapunzel trailed off, her face furrowed in thought. She then snapped her fingers. "Wait! Remember at practice yesterday, when they were arguing? Snow was saying something about the way Elsa was looking at 'her', right? And Snow was mad dogging you when she left. Now Riley is saying that Elsa was staring at you in class…"

"But…but…" Anna could not come up with any coherent response.

"How romantic would that be, though? The super sexy co-captain with the bitchy-as-fuck girlfriend breaks up with her to be with the sweet and cute new soccer star. That's like, a perfect soccer fairy tale!"

"I just don't think it's true. Why would she like me?"

Rapunzel smacked her. "Now that's enough. I've heard of self-esteem issues but this is ridiculous, Anna! You're beautiful, kind, funny, talented, and your rambling is cute as fuck! Everyone says so, even _Elsa_. Don't put yourself down like that, okay?"

Anna could only smile at her roommate and pull her into an awkward, one-armed hug. "You're the best, Punz."

"I know." She checked her phone. "We should get going, practice starts in half an hour."

* * *

They got to the field with ten minutes to spare, so Rapunzel decided that Anna would be the goalie while she practiced her own shots. At Anna's protest, she just shrugged. "What? I could be the star penalty kicker."

"You're an idiot."

"But I'm your idiot."

"And my b-."

"Yes! We know! Now get your ass in that goal."

As it turned out, Anna was a terrible goalie. Every shot Rapunzel took soared past her outstretched arms into the net. When Oaken arrived and blew the whistle, Rapunzel let her know what was what.

"Dude! You freaking _suck _at being goalie!"

"Why don't you tell me how you really feel?"

"Sure. You _fucking suck _at being goalie!"

"You're an asshole."

"Only to those I love."

"Don't I feel privileged."

"You should. It's no secret that anyone and everyone wishes I was an asshole to them."

"It's also no secret that you don't really think about word choice."

"No, it's not."

When the two reached the gaggle of players, Oaken spoke. "Okay, ladies and gents! Glad to see everyone made it for the second day of practice! I just wanted to go over a few rules I have, ya? One, if any of you have issues with another player, you will deal with them _off _the field. I will not have catfights during my practice. Two, if you get into any trouble with the university, and you know exactly what I mean, you will get no playing time until I decide to let you play again. Three, I know that this Friday, you will be hosting the first party of the year, ya?" A few murmurs went through the crowd. "Oh, don't act so innocent. I've known for years. After last year's fiasco, though, I just want to make it clear that there will be _no _hazing of _any _new players, ya?" As he said this, he looked at Snow, who just shrugged. "If you don't like the rules, feel free to pack up now and there will be nothing but good feelings, ya?" When no one moved, he nodded. "Okay, captains, please lead the warm-ups!"

Throughout the practice, Anna could _feel _eyes on her. The first time she looked up, she caught Snow glaring daggers at her. The second time, it was Rapunzel flashing her a thumbs up while nodding toward Elsa and flipping Snow the bird. The third time, though, she caught Elsa staring.

The blonde gave her a soft smile before looking away and Anna could swear her heart stopped.

During one of the shooting drills, Rapunzel ended up behind her. "Dude, I think Riley was right."

"What?"

"Elsa is totally staring at you like every ten minutes at least!"

"You're shitting me!"

"Anna, would I lie to you about this?"

"Well, no, but…"

"No buts! Now get going, you're up next!"

With twenty minutes until the end of practice, Oaken called them together again. "Excellent practice! So, every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, I end practice with a fun scrimmage, ya? Normally, it would be the guys against the ladies, but I will switch it up today!"

Anna was on a team with Elsa, Rapunzel, Merida, Jasmine, Mulan, Hans, Kristoff, Aladdin, Adam, and Eric. They set up positions, and Anna found herself at the center circle with Elsa again.

Oaken blew the whistle. "Go ahead!"

Anna tapped the ball to Elsa, who turned and kicked it back to Rapunzel to allow the strikers and midfielders time to set up on the other side of the field.

Anna had never seen the guys play but it was evident within the first few minutes that they were extremely skilled. No wonder U of A boasted its soccer program with gusto…

She was pulled from her musings when the ball hit her smack in the face and she fell to the ground, hard.

Oaken blew the whistle again. "Time!" He waddled over to Anna and helped her up. "Are you okay, Anna?"

She rubbed her nose softly. "Yeah, I'm alright. Thanks, Coach."

"Of course! Snow, you need to watch where you're kicking!"

"Maybe she needs to pay attention!" Snow called back.

_Of course it was Snow…does she have it out for me or something?_

Elsa, after shooting her girlfriend a look, gently grasped her fellow striker's arm. "You good?"

Anna nodded. "I'm cool, no worries! I've been hit in the face before."

"You looked like you were spacing, though. You may want to be a bit more alert out here."

She waved away the statement. "Ah, I'm fine! No need to worry!"

"I'm always gonna worry about you, Anna."

Anna could barely hear the whispered response but when she registered what was said a couple of seconds later, the ball was in play again and Elsa was sprinting away toward it.

_Did she just say what I think she said?_

Anna had no more time to think about it because Merida headed the ball and it was coming right toward her. She trapped it with the inside of her foot and took off, giving a quick pass to Jasmine as Tiana came to challenge her, sidestepping Tiana and taking off again after Jasmine gave it back to her. She was nearing the goal and getting ready to kick when a foot, followed by a leg and then a whole body, came sliding in, missing the ball and driving into her right foot as she tumbled to the unforgiving ground yet again.

Oaken's whistle blew. "Snow! You need to be more careful!"

"What? I got all ball!"

"Anna, your team gets the corner. Snow, either you're more careful or I'll send you home now!"

"Whatever."

Anna got to her feet, testing her right foot. Nothing seemed to be broken or sprained, just a tiny throb of pain whenever she placed her weight fully onto it. It would be better with a good night's rest. She walked over to the ball and tossed it to Jasmine. "You okay, Anna?"

"Yeah, I'm alright. She got all ball, I just wasn't paying close enough attention."

Jasmine frowned but said nothing more as she jogged over to the corner to take the kick.

Anna positioned herself near the top of the box so that she could run in when the kick was taken. Once Jasmine took the first step, she began stealthily inching closer to the goal. Once Jasmine's foot connected and the ball began its flight, she moved faster, jumping up as the ball soared toward her head-

-only to hit the ground with the back of her head as an elbow jammed into her nose.

She vaguely remembered hearing Oaken's whistle blast and several voices rising to reprimand someone but everything sounded as if she was underwater. She was also vaguely aware of a warm liquid making its way down her face as she lay on the ground, stunned.

A face swam into her view, pale and beautiful. "Hey, Elsa…" When did her voice start sounding so thick?

"Anna! Are you okay?"

"M'fine. N'rries…" She attempted to show everyone just how fine she was by getting to her feet. She thought she was successful until her legs gave out and she tumbled back down. "Mmm…not so good…"

"Elsa, take her to the nurse! Snow, you and I need to have a chat, ya?"

"S'fine," Anna muttered as Elsa heaved her to her feet. "M'fine."

"You're not fine, Anna, you may have a concussion!"

"M'fine," she repeated. Why couldn't she articulate properly?

Elsa was only able to make it a few steps before Anna slumped against her, her legs refusing to support her weight. She swiftly adjusted and took Anna into her arms. "I'm sorry if this hurts but you don't seem to be able to walk."

"Uh huh…" Anna muttered as her nose was pressed against Elsa's tank. "Mmm…you smell good."

The rest of the trip was a blur and she suddenly found herself lying down in a bed that was _very _comfortable.

"Is she going to be okay?" she heard Elsa say.

"M'fine!" she repeated for what felt like the millionth time.

The nurse shushed her with a smile and addressed Elsa. "She hasn't suffered a concussion but she's about as close as you can get. How did this happen?"

"One of her teammates elbowed her in the nose." Was it Anna's imagination or did Elsa's tone sound rather angry?

"Oh, dear, that's unfortunate. She'll be alright, she just needs to rest for a while."

"But m'fine," Anna said again.

The nurse patted her hand. "Sweetheart, stop talking, please. Just rest. You'll feel a lot better."

"M'kay," Anna heard herself say. But she didn't need to rest, she was fine!

"Thank you very much, Odie."

"Oh, Elsa. I've told you to call me 'Mama Odie.' Lord knows I've known you for long enough."

Elsa chuckled. "Thank you, Mama Odie."

"There you go! Alright, I've got a couple other patients I need to get to, so I'll leave you to look out for her."

"Of course. Thanks again."

"Darling, you know you ain't gotta thank me." She got up from her seat and headed for the door. Pausing with her hand on the handle, she looked back at Elsa with a frown. "It was Snow that elbowed her, wasn't it?"

"…Yes."

"I know you've heard it from pretty much everyone, especially your brother, but you need to kick that girl to the curb."

"…"

Odie sighed. "Oh, Elsa. You deserve so much better than her."

"Odie…"

"I mean it. I've known you since you were a baby, Elsa, I've watched you grow into a mighty fine young woman. Snow can't appreciate that."

Anna, barely able to follow the full conversation, did pick up on the last sentence and reached out to take Elsa's hand. Her captain, shocked, looked at the strawberry blonde.

"She's right. Y'shuld be with someone…makes you happy," she struggled to say.

Elsa smiled and squeezed Anna's hand. "Thank you, Anna."

"Y'elcome. I'm kinda tired…I'ma sleep." With a yawn, Anna closed her eyes.

Odie nodded toward her. "Someone like that, Elsa. Someone who cares."

When Elsa said nothing, the nurse sighed yet again. "Alright, I'm gonna go check on my other children. When she wakes up, you can take her home, Elsa."

"Okay. Thank you again."

"Anything for family, my dear, anything for family." She left the room.

Elsa, taking advantage of Anna's unconscious state, let her eyes rove over the strawberry blonde's form. She _was_ beautiful, that much was definite. She had never been so affected by someone, let alone someone she'd only known for a week or so. Yet, Anna had somehow wormed her way into Elsa's life. Maybe it was her kindness. Maybe it was her prowess at soccer. Maybe it was the absolutely adorable rambling.

But whatever it was, Elsa could not bring herself to want it any other way. This girl was a rare kind of person, someone full of unadulterated positivity, someone who, without knowing it, made the sun shine brighter.

When Anna began mumbling in a scared tone, Elsa gripped her hand just a little bit tighter to let her know that she was there and that no one was going to hurt her.

The redhead squeezed back, unconsciously intertwining their fingers.

Elsa didn't break the connection until Anna woke up three hours later.

* * *

**A/N: I know. It's been a bit since I updated. I'M SO SORRY! Life and writer's block (mostly writer's block) decided to set up lawn chairs and lounge about in my head. So blame them bitches. Hopefully this chapter wasn't **_**too **_**all over the place. Maybe it's just self-doubt that makes me think it was but whatever. I'm too tired and sleepy to care. I hope y'all enjoyed.**

**-DeanneYunFarron**

**P.S. No matter how tired/sleepy I am, ain't no way I'ma forget about soccer humor! Ho-kay:**

**Who was the last pharaoh of Ancient Egypt?**

**Wait for it…CLEAT-opatra! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH.**

**I love you guys for putting up with my weirdness. BYE!**

**P.P.S. But before I go actually bye, I'ma say that I'm like 99% positive there is some grammatical mistakes. I don't care enough right now to fix dem, but maybe I look back tomorrow or something and fix dem. I'm a bit wigged out on Benadryl, so forgive my lazy writing. NOW BYE!**


	4. Not A Thing

**Author's Note: Have I ever mentioned that y'all are the bestest? Like, for realzies, I love ya's. So much. So much that I'm giving you this chapter. So...enjoy.**

**P.S. I didn't respond to the guest reviews last chapter (I'M SORRY) so I do it now, ho-kay? Ho-kay!**

**Guest (the first one)[y'all just LOVE makin' it hard for me, huh?]: Yeah, Elsa's just a glutton for punishment, ain't she? I think I mentioned this to one of my reviewers, but now I'll just let all y'all know; Elsa's reasons for staying with Snow will be revealed throughout the course of the story. So bear with me. And I'd also like to say that it's not a sad face up there, I just needed different parentheses 'cause I'm weird. If you don't know what I'm talking about, don't fret. Not really important anyway :D that was a smiley face :D so was that one :D and this one too, hee hee!**

**Guest (le second one): ILY TOO! It warms the cockles of my heart (still don't know what those actually are) to get such a passionate review on my little ol' baby! AND I LOVE ONCE UPON A TIME! I gotta go back and marathon all the episodes 'cause I've missed quite a bit but it's fine. Oh, sweet pea, you haven't creeped me out in the slightest! As Riley said last chapter (I'll prolly misquote this because I'm too lazy to go back and copy word-for-word) I will not be discreet about letting you know if something bothered me. And **_**trust me**_**, I will not.**

**Guest (the third one): You too kind! Oh, yes, the green-eyed monster was certainly camping out in Elsa when she saw Riley and Anna chatting it up. I can't give too much away, but look forward to some awkwardness between Riley and Elsa :D And yeah, Snow is a raging jealous bitchy ass nasty toed fishy smelling slut…I'm totally kidding…about a couple of those adjectives…and I'll leave it up to you to figure out which! I mean, through the course of the story you'll find out but let's see if you can't guess it beforehand. Of course, I'm not gonna tell you but…HAHAHAHA I'm so mean.**

**Guest (le fourth one): You'll find out why Elsa is with her later…and I may have hinted at it this chapter :D**

**Toolazytosignin: Um…it is an AU, so OOC-ness should be expected. The events that happened during the movie didn't happen here, so their personalities are adjusted accordingly. And the banter…to be honest, the banter is what I put the least thought into. It sort of just writes itself. As I've stated to a couple others, the banter is similar to convos that I have with my own BFFs, so…yeah. But anyway, thanks for the review and kind words!**

**Guest (le last one): Thanks! Hope you enjoy the chapter!**

**Onward!**

* * *

"Anna, wake up!"

A pillow to the kisser pulled the strawberry blonde out of a very confusing dream featuring both her captain and her lab partner. "What the hell, Punz?"

"Do you not hear the alarm? We have to evacuate the building!"

"What?" Only now that Anna was slightly more awake did she register the blaring alarm ringing throughout the dorm.

"Come _on!_" Rapunzel darted over to her roommate's bed and dragged her from the cocoon of covers with a strength that defied her slim body. She threw her toward the door. "Get going!"

The two burst through the door, nearly colliding headlong into the crowd of other girls bustling toward the exit. As a unit, they all spilled forth from the building and gathered around the front, shivering in the two A.M. chill. A fire truck and squad car were speeding across the campus, their sirens screaming.

"What the fuck is going on?" Rapunzel asked through gritted teeth. "I don't smell any fire and there's no smoke or anything."

Anna, who had tightened her arms into herself in a bid to keep her rapidly escaping body heat from escaping any more rapidly, shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe it's a drill?"

"At two A.M.? They're out of their damn minds!"

"I don't think it was a drill," a new voice, tinged with a slight accent, joined in.

Anna turned quickly to spot one of the subjects of her recent dream with her hands in the pockets of her sweats and a smile adorning her face. "Riley? You live here?"

"Oh, no, I just happened to be walking by in my PJs at two A.M. and figured I should check out the commotion," her lab partner deadpanned. When Anna pouted, she laughed. "Chill, Anna, I was joking. Who says you can't be in a good mood at two A.M.? But, yeah, I do live here. I mean, I _was _out for a walk but I do actually live here."

"You were out for a walk at this time?" Rapunzel asked incredulously. "Weren't you freezing your ass off?"

"Nah, I've always been rather comfortable with the cold." Riley then stuck out a hand. "You must be Anna's roommate. I'm Riley. Riley O'Connell."

Rapunzel shook the hand with a small smile. "I've heard about you."

"Really? Could it have anything to do with her crush on our T.A.?"

"_Riley!_" Anna immediately slapped her own hand over Riley's mouth. "Not so loud!"

The raven-haired girl chuckled behind Anna's hand before removing it. "Dude, you need to _chill_. It's kind of early to be all bent out of shape, yeah? Besides, you've got good taste; our T.A. is gorgeous."

"You know, Riley, I think you and I will get along great," Rapunzel commented with a laugh.

"Sweet. Never hurts to meet new friends, right?" Riley turned her gaze up to the building, frowning slightly. "You know, not that it bothers me because I don't sleep, but it was real uncool of someone to pull the fire alarm."

"You don't sleep?" came out of Anna's mouth as Rapunzel asked, "You think it was a prank?"

Riley grinned. "No, I don't sleep. I suffer from insomnia. And yes, I do think it was a prank."

"I'm so sorry," was said at the same time as, "We should kill whoever did it."

"Rapunzel, we're not gonna kill anyone!" Anna scolded her.

"Oh, did you want to?" Riley asked. "Cause I know a guy."

Anna rolled her eyes. "How do you both know someone like that?"

Riley and Rapunzel traded a look before smiling and saying simultaneously. "Because we're awesome."

"Oh my god, I'm seriously regretting let you two meet."

"Why would you say that?" Riley said as she threw an arm over Rapunzel's shoulders. "She's cool as fuck."

"And she's pretty chill herself," Rapunzel teased.

"I hate you two."

"You love me."

"And we don't know each other very well, but you love me already, don't try to deny it."

"Ugh."

Their R.A., a sophomore named Vanessa, held up a megaphone. "Listen up, freshmen! The firemen have informed me that there was no actual fire!" Several voices rose angrily. "Yeah, I know, it sucks. So, until we figure out who pulled the alarm, we have to stay out here to make sure they don't pull it again."

"You're fucking kidding me," Rapunzel said under her breath.

"But don't worry. It shouldn't take that long. We just have to review the security tapes. Should be no more than ten, twenty minutes, okay?"

As it turned out, it took them five hours before the girls were let back in. When they reviewed the security tapes, they discovered that the perpetrator was wearing a ski mask and black clothing. They then had to pull up a list of every girl that lived in the dorm and check each room for the evidence. Once it was determined that none of the girls owned that sort of clothing, they called up several administrators to check all over campus. Anna thought it was a bit much but apparently U of A did not take matters of these kinds lightly.

And of course, even with all of their sleuthing, they had come no closer to figuring out who had done it. So, around seven A.M., all of the girls trudged back into the building, bleary-eyed and royally pissed.

"I'll see you guys around," Riley said brightly with a wave.

Rapunzel and Anna simply grunted and headed to their own room. "That was utter bullshit," Rapunzel groaned into her pillow.

"Yeah, but at least we can go back to sleep now," Anna mumbled as she closed her eyes.

Her eyes then snapped open as her phone began blasting "Happy" by Pharell Williams not two seconds later. It was Thursday. She'd forgotten about her eight A.M. class on Thursdays. And didn't she have an exam?

"I fucking hate everything."

* * *

"Hey, feisty-pants!" Kristoff greeted as he approached her at the café.

"Have I told you how much I fucking hate everything?" she greeted in return.

"No, but I figured you'd say something like that. But before we get into it," he brushed his fingers lightly over her forehead, "how are you feeling?"

"Oh, this? I'm all better. Just needed some rest. Kinda wish I'd gotten more though…"

"They didn't find out who pulled the fire alarm, did they?"

"Nope. How'd you know about it?"

"Are you kidding? It's a small campus. Any big news spreads like wildfire. And pulling the fire alarm when there's no actual fire is like a capital offense here."

"Why?"

"Well, for starters, administration believes that since this is a college campus and we're all adults, we should act like it. Pranking is something for kids. Second, it ends up affecting a lot more people in the long run, because they have to call the fire department and the police and those sirens are _loud_. Third, they do a lot of studies on what helps students succeed, you know, because they care, and sleep is like top of the list. Therefore, whenever something happens that interrupts students from quality sleep, they take it _very _seriously."

"It's awesome that they care but I can't believe they didn't figure out who did it after five hours."

"Whoever did covered their tracks nicely."

"I'm fucking pissed at them! I don't care how smart they were!"

"Dude, I know. You don't need to get mad at me."

Anna sighed. "I'm sorry. I had a test in my eight A.M. and I'm pretty sure I bombed it. I couldn't fucking stay awake! I've never failed a test before!"

"Anna, it's not your fault. Did you explain to your professor what happened?"

"Yeah, but he's an asshole! Said that life was full of obstacles or some bullshit and that I needed to learn how to acclimate. And then I tried to get him to explain how the hell you're supposed to acclimate to losing out on like five hours of sleep because of something that you didn't do but no! He just waved me away and said he'd consider taking it a _little _easier on me!"

"Wow, he is an asshole."

"No shit."

"Good morning, you two." Elsa, seated at a table close to them, was delicately sipping on a latte.

"Oh, hey, Elsa," Kristoff responded as Anna reddened and spluttered out, "H-hi, Elsa!"

_For fuck's sake, Hagen, can you __**not **__become a blubbering speech impediment when you're around her?_

Quieting her mind, she spoke again, this time without fumbling all over herself. "Uh, how long had you been sitting there?"

"This entire time," the blonde responded with a chuckle.

"Why didn't you say anything before?"

"I was enjoying the conversation. You're quite cute when you're sleep-deprived." A wink accompanied her words.

"Oh! Thanks." Missing the look Kristoff shot at the junior, Anna coughed once, at a loss of what to follow with. Thankfully, Elsa rescued her.

"So, I heard about someone pulling the fire alarm in your dorm last night," the blonde commented with a slight frown. "You're not looking so good, Anna. Is your head okay?"

Anna nodded absently. "My head is fine now. I lost out on like five hours of sleep, though, so I'm pretty pissed."

"I would be too. And they haven't found out who it was yet?"

"Nope. Which makes me even more pissed."

Elsa sighed. "How many classes do you have today?"

The younger girl chuckled humorlessly. "Four. I had an eight A.M. and then it's back-to-back from twelve to three. Hopefully I can get a catnap in before practice…"

"Damn, Anna, you've got a long day ahead of you," Kristoff said. "Any way you can skip your last class?"

She shrugged. "I mean, it's only English but I don't know. I'm not so sure I like the idea of skipping."

"Okay…just don't be surprised if you fall asleep during one of them. Or during practice."

"If I fall asleep during practice, I may actually suffer a concussion this time…ooh, maybe I should skip class…but I don't want my professor to think I'm _that _kind of student…but, wait! If news travels fast like you said, Kristoff, then she would probably know about the fire alarm thing, so then maybe she'd understand…or…she'd think I'm the kind of student who can't hang with sleep deprivation…ugh, what do I do?" As she finished, she turned to the older pair with her arms outstretched, clearly waiting for an answer.

They traded a look and Elsa spoke first. "Well, Anna, I think you should do what you want."

Kristoff nodded. "I agree. You're the one who has to deal with the consequences, whether positive or negative."

"Of course…it's college, right? We're adults now. We make our own decisions."

"Right."

"I guess…I'll just see how I'm feeling by my one o'clock. I'll make the final decision then. Thanks guys." She checked her phone. "I gotta get going. I need to print something out before class starts. Bye!" She bumped fists with Kristoff and, after only a slight hesitation, did the same with Elsa. Then she was out the door.

That left the other two to nurse an awkward silence, even with the hubbub of the café.

"So," Elsa finally spoke, "how's it feel to be a starter this year?"

"It's pretty sweet. I'm glad Oaken noticed my improvement."

"How could he not? But you should've been a starter as a freshman too."

He blinked. "Wh-what? You really think so?"

"Sure. You were quite good, especially for your size. I think it was just that Oaken wanted to let the seniors make the most out of their last year."

"Yeah…" he responded lamely. "Uh, thanks."

"No problem." She took another sip of her latte and silence reigned yet again. "Has Hans or Shang come up with the theme for the party tomorrow?" she then asked abruptly, trying to fill the quiet.

"Yup. Theme is 'Librarians and Barbarians'."

She snorted. "And here I was thinking Hans would start with a black light party."

"Oh, don't worry. He says that'll be the next one."

"Of course…so, lemme guess: guys are barbarians and girls are librarians?"

"Actually, no. Other way around."

She cocked an eyebrow. "Breaking down the gender barrier, are we?"

"I guess. Although I think it's mostly just because that means the ladies will have to show up wearing very little clothing."

"And the guys?"

"Oh, you know us, we'll find a way to lose our shirts while the night's still young."

"Now _that _doesn't surprise me in the slightest."

"Do you like Anna?" he blurted out suddenly.

Elsa's cocked eyebrow somehow managed to move further away from its normal position. "I guess I spoke too soon."

The sophomore blinked twice before he frowned. "Sorry, I know it was sort of sudden, but I do need to know: do you like her?"

"Of course I do," was her immediate response.

"I don't mean as a friend, Elsa."

"I know."

He ran a hand through his thick blond locks. "Look, Anna is…she's my little sister. Her parents took me in when mine were too busy getting fucked up to remember they had a son. She and I grew up together. So trust me when I say I'm _very _protective over her. You're a good person, Els. Why you're dating Snow is beyond me." When she went to open her mouth defensively, he raised his hands in placation. "You don't need to explain it to me. Just…don't hurt her, Elsa."

"What makes you think I'll hurt her?" she replied hotly.

"You're with Snow. Who has hurt her more than once, from what I hear."

"That wasn't my fault."

"Doing nothing is just as bad."

"Are you blaming _me _for what happened to her?"

"Not necessarily, no. I'm simply suggesting that you figure out what you really want before Anna pays the price." With a final grim nod, he left her alone, his words resonating through her head.

* * *

"Hey, kid, how you feeling?" Rapunzel asked as she walked through the door to their shared room and spotted Anna tying up her cleats.

The strawberry blonde yawned widely before giving a nod. "Super, like I could conquer the world."

"You sure about that? 'Cause I'd say your sleep deprivation is making you wonky."

"What? What gives you that idea?"

"Oh, I don't know, maybe the fact that you're about to brush your hair with a book?"

"What?" Anna looked down at her hand and found she was indeed attempting to comb her current novel through her locks. She tossed the book onto the bed and located her hairbrush. "I'm fine, Punz."

"Yeah? Next thing I know, you'll be trying to wipe your ass with poison ivy."

Anna squinted at her. "Did you seriously just say that?"

"I know…it was the first thing I could think of."

"You need to work on your material, then."

"Pff…my material is flawless. I'm just lacking the proper audience to appreciate it."

"Whatever helps you sleep at night."

Rapunzel stuck out her tongue as she pulled her shorts up. "Okay, you ready to get going?"

"Mmm…" Anna collapsed onto her bed and yawned again. "I don't wanna…"

Her roommate sighed. "Anna, if you're tired, why don't you-?"

A loud snore interrupted her words. Looking closer, she discovered that the younger girl was fast asleep, clutching her stuffed moose tightly. Shaking her head with a smile, she carefully removed Anna's cleats without waking her, ruffled her hair affectionately and turned off the light before leaving the room.

The brunette made the solitary walk to practice, dropping her bags next to the few that were already there.

"Hey, Rapunzel, where's Anna?" Aurora asked. Both captains, as well as Jasmine and Pocahontas, were lounging about their belongings.

"Uh, asleep, actually. I hope that's cool. She was actually all dressed and everything…"

"It's alright. We all know about the fire alarm fiasco this morning. And with the injury she suffered yesterday, I can imagine she'll need the sleep, _especially _with tomorrow's mandatory partying."

Rapunzel chuckled. "I'm sure she'll appreciate the extra rest when she's getting plastered."

"Why should she get extra sleep when the rest of us are out here busting our asses?" Snow asked angrily as she joined them.

The brunette rolled her eyes and Snow advanced on her. "Don't roll your eyes at me, freshman!"

"I'll roll my eyes all I want, thanks." To demonstrate, Rapunzel made a motion of pretending to pop her eyeballs into her hand and toss them like dice.

"You're a little smart-ass, aren't you?"

"And you're just a big ass, so you have no room to talk."

"You stupid-!"

"Enough, Snow!" Elsa barked. "Leave her alone."

"And there you go, jumping to their defense again," Snow snarled back. "How is it that you're never on my side?"

"Because your side fucking sucks!" Rapunzel interjected.

"Was anyone talking to you, bitch?"

The brunette glared at her. "Keep talking big, Snow, you go right ahead. You'll get what's coming to you."

"And what would that be?" she sneered.

"Hopefully? A giant ass-kicking."

Whatever response Snow was ready to fire back was drowned out by the sound of the rest of soccer players coming to join them, as well as Oaken's cheery, "Hoo-hoo!"

When everyone was gathered around, Oaken took a quick look. "I see Anna is not with us. Rapunzel, is she sleeping?"

"Yes, sir."

"Oh, that poor dear. She needs the rest, so we'll just run practice without her. Captains, warm-ups?"

Throughout the practice, Snow kept shooting Rapunzel nasty looks. Whenever they passed one another, Snow would make sure she rammed her shoulder into the brunette's. When they were paired up for different shooting and passing drills, Rapunzel often found herself on the receiving end of soccer balls to the face or sliding tackles to the ankles. By the end, she was sure she'd have quite a few new bruises to take care of.

Despite Snow's attempts, the practice finished with little trouble (for anyone else anyway) and Oaken dismissed them with a stern warning about the following day's festivities.

Rapunzel sighed as she took a seat on the grass to remove her footwear and slip on her sandals. A soft hand on her shoulder caused her to look up into icy blue eyes.

"Are you alright?"

The brunette shrugged Elsa's hand off with a frown. "I'm fine."

She missed the sad look that flitted across the captain's face. "…I'm sorry about Snow."

"If you really were, you'd actually do something to stop her."

"I'm sorry."

"Just…stop apologizing, please. I have no time for empty words." With that, Rapunzel gathered up her things and left the field.

She didn't look up from her feet until she was back in her room. Anna was still out like a light so she collapsed into her desk chair with less flair then she wanted.

"R…Rapunzel?"

"Anna…go back to sleep. You need it."

The strawberry blonde stretched, another yawn ending in a cute squeak as she popped her back. "That was a great nap…oh _shit!_" She hopped out of her bed, looking around frantically. "I completely forgot about practice! Why aren't you there? We need to get going, come on, Punz!"

Her roommate held up her hands. "Relax, Anna, practice is over. You slept through it."

"Wait, what? I slept through it! Oh my god, Rapunzel, why didn't you wake me up?! What did Oaken say?!"

"He was cool with it. Everyone knows about the fire alarm thing, remember? And I didn't wake you 'cause you needed the rest, duh. I mean, you fell asleep on your own."

Anna calmed and sat back on her bed. "I'm sorry. You're awesome, Punz. Thanks."

"No worries. What are friends for?"

"Being my bitch?"

"Glad to see you've returned from the land of the sleep-deprived. Remind me why I didn't wake you up and have _you _take the brunt of Snow's underhandedness?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, I got a little mouthy with her at practice and she didn't like it."

"What did you say?"

"Well, she was being her bitchy-ass self and tried to say something about you not deserving to miss practice, so I defended you and then Elsa stepped in and then I stepped in again and then she called me a bitch so I said she'd get what's coming to her," Rapunzel deadpanned.

"Whoa…sounds like I missed a good practice."

"You could say that."

"She apologized after practice, you know."

"_Snow?!"_

"What? Hell no. Elsa."

"Oh. That was nice of her."

"Yeah…I may have thrown it back in her face."

"Dude! Why would you do that?"

Rapunzel gave her an 'are-you-fucking-serious?' look. "You're shitting me, right?"

"No."

"Anna, she's still dating that witch. I don't care how many times she apologizes; it doesn't mean anything if that's _all _she does. She knows how Snow is, yet does nothing."

"Maybe there's a reason for it," Anna tried.

"What reason could she possibly have to torture herself like that?"

"I don't know. Probably the kind of reason that she isn't willing to trust anyone with."

"Not even her own brother?"

"Not even her own brother. I mean, I've kept secrets from Kristoff."

"Somehow, I _highly _doubt that."

"Okay, fine! Kristoff and I have no secrets but it's different. Neither him nor I are dating anyone like that."

"But if you were…"

"I wouldn't. Someone like Snow? I could never date anyone like that."

"Hypothetically speaking, though."

"Ugh. I don't know! I guess…if I was afraid of them."

"Like of them hurting you?"

"Not necessarily. It could be fear of something that she could do to others, people I care about."

"Do you think that's the reason…?"

"Who knows? I'm not gonna pry. And neither are you."

"Okay, Mom."

"I mean it, Punz. If she brings it up herself, that's cool. But no poking around, ok?"

"Okay, okay! Geez…"

* * *

"Anna! You all ready to party like there's no tomorrow?"

"I guess sleep just isn't a thing for me," Anna muttered to herself as she threw off the covers and swung her legs over the side of her bed, checking the alarm clock on her desk. "Rapunzel…it's nine in the morning. The only thing I'm ready to do is curl back under the covers until the late afternoon."

"You're no fun! Our first official party is tonight and you're focused on sleep?"

"I'm a simple girl."

"You're weird, is what you are."

"Well, you're still my bitch, so suck it."

"You're so mean to me."

"What else does one do when addressing their bitch?"

"Ugh."

"This is what you get for waking me up early."

"Well excuse me if I was a little over-excited."

"I don't care if you're over the moon. Just don't wake me up while you're at it."

"You have a ten o'clock class."

"Yeah? So?"

"So, you're welcome."

"Whatever." Anna disappeared into their restroom and came out with a toothbrush in her mouth and a comb stuck in her hair.

"You know, I can't understand how your hair ends up like that every morning."

"Hmm? Like what?"

Rapunzel shot her an incredulous look. "Have you _ever _looked in a mirror?"

Anna moved her head back to look at her reflection from the bathroom mirror. "It's not that bad!"

"Not that bad? Anna, you look like a porcupine is sitting on your head."

"Well, porcupines are cute…"

"Good thing you like them, because I don't think it's letting go of your cranium anytime soon."

"You're just jealous."

"Oh, yeah, my lifelong dream is to have a rodent make a nest on my head."

"See? Totally jealous."

"You're an idiot."

"And you're my-."

"That is starting to get _really _old."

"Not for me. And besides, it was _you _who said it."

The brunette just shook her head while Anna giggled and continued to try and pull the comb through her mane. Within five minutes, she had tamed the monstrosity and wore it in twin pigtails; she'd also changed into sweats and a T-shirt. "Okay! I've got half an hour before class so I'm gonna grab some coffee before. You wanna come with?"

"Sure. Then I'm gonna come back here and curl up under the covers until my two P.M."

"I hate you."

"Love you too. Now come on, let's go get some coffee!"

Rapunzel pulled open the door and nearly ran headlong into Riley. The Irish girl removed her headphones, letting them hang around her neck. "Hey, ladies. Where are you off to in such a hurry?"

"We were just about to grab some coffee. Wanna come?" Anna asked.

Riley grinned. "Sure. That shit can't make me sleep any less than I already do."

She walked between the roommates as they made their way to the café. "So, how was practice yesterday?"

"Well, Anna slept through it."

"Oh? I didn't know you could do that."

"I don't think you're supposed to but our coach is really cool. He totally understood."

"That's good. I'd bet any other coach would kick you off the team."

"Good thing Oaken isn't any other coach."

They got to the café and ordered drinks. Anna and Rapunzel were slightly surprised when Riley ordered a white chocolate mocha then proceeded to dump what looked to be half of the sugar dispenser into the already sweet drink.

At their looks, she shrugged with a grin. "What? I've got an incurable sweet tooth."

"Looks more like you want to give yourself diabetes," Rapunzel commented.

"Eh. Hasn't killed me yet."

"Or so you hope."

"Your concern is quite touching. But I can…" She trailed off as her eyes alighted on something behind them. "Oh, look at that. Our T.A. is here, Anna."

"What?" She turned to spot Elsa at the cashier, paying for her drink. Before Anna could say anything, Riley called out to her, "Hey, Elsa! Over here!"

"Riley, what are you doing?" she hissed.

"I'm being a good friend," her partner whispered back as the older girl approached them.

"Good morning, Anna, Rapunzel." Elsa squinted at Riley. "You're…Riley, right? Anna's lab partner?"

"Aye, that'd be me."

Elsa nodded and returned her attention to the roommates. "So, are you guys ready for the party tonight?"

"Hell yeah!" Rapunzel cheered. Anna smiled. "I think we're ready for some fun."

"Good. It'll be pretty sweet. We throw damn good parties."

"Uh, I hate to be _that _person, but could someone explain what's going on?" Riley cut in.

"Shit, that was so rude of us! Sorry, Riley. See, the soccer players are throwing a party tonight and Rapunzel here has been pumped all week."

"Ah ah ah! You're just as excited, ginger ale, you just can't hide it."

"Those aren't the lyrics."

"So? I speak the truth all the same."

"Whatever. Anyway, Riley, now that I think about it, are you doing anything tonight?"

"Uh, I may be."

"Well, too bad! You're coming to this party tonight."

"Will you be there?"

"Our attendance is mandatory."

"Okay, then. It's a date." Riley took a giant sip of her drink and sighed. "I've got to get to class but I'll see you guys tonight!"

"Sweet! The theme is 'Librarians and Barbarians.'"

"Nice. We're supposed to be sexy librarians?"

"Actually, the guys are the librarians."

"Oh-ho! So we're the sexy barbarians. I like the sound of that! See ya later!" With a final wave, she left the trio.

Anna's hand lowered, as did her facial expression, when she came to a realization. "I don't have anything to wear for tonight…"

"What?" Rapunzel nearly screamed. "That's a huge issue! When's your last class?"

"One."

"We'll go shopping afterward."

"I hate clothes shopping."

"That's too damn bad, isn't it? You're going, whether you like it or not." The brunette checked her phone. "Now come on, I'll walk you to class. Later, Elsa!" Rapunzel whisked her roommate off with nary a second glance backward at the confused platinum blonde.

"Rapunzel, slow down!"

The older girl slowed to a walk, a grin spreading on her face. "Did you see Elsa?"

"What are you talking about?"

"When Riley said mentioned the word 'date'…did you see the look on her face?"

"Uh, no."

"It was promising."

"Promising how?"

"Promising like, I bet if you play your cards right tonight, your future could be looking bright."

"Sorry, I'm not following."

Rapunzel chuckled. "You'll see what I mean tonight."

* * *

**A/N: I SO SORRY. This is out a wee bit later than I wanted. Thing is, that thing that happens monthly to women happened to me and I literally hated everything. I didn't want my computer to meet an early grave because of my raging hormones, so I waited until I could perform a task without wanting to murder anyone to finish this chapter. I know it's short again, but the party is next chapter. So look out for it!**

**-DeanneYunFarron**

**P.S. As if I could forget soccah hoomer! Okay:**

**Why do midgets always laugh when playing soccer?**

**Wait for it, wait for it….hold onnnnnn….because the grass tickles their balls! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.**

**GEDDIT?**

**P.P.S. Any grammar mistakes...eh, whatever. Maybe I'll look back later. Right now I'm too tired to care.**


	5. Party Hardy

**Author's Note: Heeeeeeey….I know, it's been a while. I sorry. Life punched me in the face a few times. But I'm good. It's all goooood. Also, bt dubs, not responding to any of the reviews from the last chapter 'cause I'm lazy and I no want to :D**

**Warning: I do believe this chapter will have more swearing than the last ones, and a pretty strong use of drugs and alcohol. It's a college party. The ones I went to were just as 'fun' and 'better'. Oh, and there are also a couple of racial slurs. Guess who says them? HAHAHA. But in all seriousness, please do not get offended if said slur refers to your race or ethnicity.**

* * *

"_I'm gonna pop some taaaags  
__Only got twenty dollahs in my pocket  
I'm I'm I'm huntin', lookin' for a come up  
This is FUCKING awesome…!"_

Anna covered her ears and yelled, "Rapunzel, for fuck's sake, can you quiet down!"

After a quick glance at her roommate, the brunette acquiesced to her decision and stopped singing. "Someone's on edge," she noted with a smirk.

"I'm not on edge!" Anna replied quickly.

"Of course you're not, whatever could I be talking about?"

"Oh, shut up."

"Anna, seriously, hop off the stick. You can't be this uptight come tonight. Ooh, I rhymed!"

"Congratulations," her passenger grumbled.

"_Dude…_what's wrong?"

"Nothing."

"You can't lie to me, you know this by now. Out with it."

"Really, nothing's wrong…I'm just a little apprehensive about this party."

"Why? Everyone on this campus swears up and down that our parties are the best."

"That's not the problem."

"Ah…of course. Elsa."

"Bingo."

"What are you apprehensive about? You guys are friends, right?"

"Yeah. And even though she's dating that _bitch, _I respect the boundaries that are set because of it. I'm just worried that once I have alcohol in my system, I won't respect those boundaries anymore."

"Oh, Anna, you're seriously one of the nicest people I've ever met."

"What are you talking about?"

"Look at you, all worried about fucking shit up for Snow and Elsa when I'm sure any sane person would jump on the opportunity to fuck their shit up and then some."

"Uh…thanks?"

"No problem, roomie. And if I'm right, we should-_what the fuck!_" The car jerked suddenly as Rapunzel swerved to avoid rear-ending someone who had decided to make a wild turn while smack in the middle of the intersection. The brunette stuck her head out of the rolled-down window and yelled, "NEXT TIME I'LL KICK YOUR ASS, FUCKWAD!"

"_Rapunzel!"_

"What? That dickhead nearly made me rear-end him! And if even one scratch got on this car, I would've-!"

"Punz, relax! It's over, they're gone."

"Pff...don't tell me to relax, you'll see what happens when you have your own car." That was all Anna understood of her roommate's mumblings, as they began trailing off into nonsensical gibberish. But eventually, she stopped and turned her music back on.

"_Walk up to the club like, "What up, I got a big cock?"  
Nah, I'm just pumped up  
Bought some shit from the thrift shop  
Ice on the fringe  
It's so damn frosty  
The people like, "Damn, that's a cold-ass honkey!"_

Anna couldn't help a grin spread on her face at Rapunzel's rapping. She was actually pretty good. Not as good as Macklemore, but good.

The brunette pulled her car into the parking lot of the thrift shop five minutes later. As Anna unbuckled her seatbelt, she asked, "Why did you park so far from the entrance?"

"We're college students. Ever heard of the Freshmen Fifteen? We need to exercise to keep that weight off."

A long silence stretched and Rapunzel turned to see Anna squinting at her. "What?"

"…We play on one of the best college soccer teams in the country-"

"Your point?" Rapunzel interrupted.

Anna held up a finger. "-and you're gonna park all the way back here because you think we don't exercise enough?"

Her roommate sighed. "Duh…I feel like an idiot. I can move the car."

"No, no, that's alright." Anna smirked as she opened the door and got out, Rapunzel following suit. "I'd rather be able to laugh about this for a while."

"I hate you."

"You love me. Now come on, let's go thrift shoppin'!"

The pair spent the next hour browsing the many aisles of clothes, Rapunzel forcing Anna to try on every article that she deemed worthy. As she put it, "You have to look sexy enough that Elsa will dump that bitch on the spot and jump you."

At the cash register, Rapunzel lightly punched Anna on the shoulder. "You're gonna look so hot tonight!"

Anna blushed lightly. "Shut up."

"You need to learn how to take a compliment, girl! Anyway, seriously, Elsa's totally gonna be drooling over you. And, if I may be so bold, a certain lab partner might as well."

"You did _not _just say that…"

"Oh, please, Anna, do _not _even try and deny it. You're totally crushing on Riley too."

"How in the hell would you know that?"

"I'm your college roommate, which means we're not only BFF's, but sisters too. You can't hide jack shit from me."

"No kidding…and I'm not crushing on her, not really! It's…it's just…" Her hand waved through the air pathetically as she trailed off.

"It's okay to be into two people, especially when they look like Elsa and Riley. They're both gorgeous in their own way. You've got excellent taste."

Anna chuckled. "Gee, thanks."

"No problem."

The cashier finished ringing their items up and Rapunzel handed over her card. "You still want Elsa, right?"

"What?"

"You heard me," the brunette replied as she took back her card.

"I…" Anna sighed. "I don't know if I know anymore."

"That's a vague response."

"I know."

"Well, at least you know something," Rapunzel teased.

"I know something else too."

"Oh, yeah? And what's that?" her roommate responded as they walked out of the thrift shop.

"You're my bitch."

The brunette sighed. "Of course."

* * *

"Toss me my phone, would you?" Anna asked as she plugged in her flat iron.

"Where is it?"

"In the top drawer of my desk."

She heard Rapunzel open the drawer and close it soon after. She looked over just in time to see her roommate toss the device and she fumbled to catch it. "What the hell, dude? I wasn't even looking!"

"I was testing you."

"Bullshit. Testing what, exactly?"

"Seriously, I was testing you. Seems your lightning reflexes only exist on the soccer field. Everywhere else, it's like you're Bambi on ice."

"That's a mean thing to say."

"Truth hurts."

"Whatever. Aren't you going to shower?"

"I already did."

"When?"

"When you fell asleep for like half an hour."

"Oh. Okay," she pointed with her flat iron, "then aren't you going to get ready?"

"Worry about yourself, ginger ale."

"Ginger ale?"

"Yeah, are you not a ginger? It's a term of endearment, trust me."

"I'll take your word for it."

Twenty minutes later, both girls had their hair done and makeup applied. Anna was just putting the finishing touches on her outfit with a pair of kindergarten scissors when someone knocked on the door. Rapunzel, who was completely finished, strode over and peeked through the peephole. "Hot damn…" she whistled. "Anna, prepare yourself."

"What are you-?" She had no time to finish the question because the brunette pulled open the door to reveal Riley.

_Holy shit…holy shit, holy shit._

The girl was hardly wearing anything; it looked as though she wore a bikini made of rags. She had completed the look with furry boots and a fur vest. She grinned when the door opened, though the grin faded as she registered the looks on their faces. "Oh…I thought the point was to not wear a lot." She glanced down. "Does it look okay?"

It took a few seconds for Anna to splutter, "Yeah, yeah, you look fine."

"You totally hesitated. And, I only look 'fine'?"

"You look hot," Rapunzel corrected. "Shit, if I was into girls, I'd be trying to get at you."

"Thanks! I'll take that as a good sign. Let's see if I can't get any prehistoric tail tonight."

"You'll encounter no problems with that, I'm sure."

"I was hoping you'd say that. And, I'll go ahead and take this time to say you both look pretty damn sexy too."

"I was hoping you'd say that," Rapunzel replied with a mock wink.

"Oh, don't play with me like that, girl! You're gonna break my heart."

"That's what I do."

After a long silence, Riley said with a smile, "And I'm okay with that." The two laughed and laughed while Anna just sat there in silence, her mind going all over the place.

_You said you didn't really have a crush on her._

_Yeah, but she looks fucking hot in that…_

_And what about Elsa?_

_What about Elsa? She's got a girlfriend, remember?_

_So, just like that, you're over her?_

_Well, no, but…_

_You need to get your shit straight, kid. A choice will have to be made, sooner or later._

"Anna!"

"Huh? What?"

"You alright? You looked like you were up in space for a while."

"Um, yeah, I'm okay. I was just thinking."

"Oh?" Riley cocked an eyebrow. "What about?"

_How hot you look tonight._

"Oh, you know, about…stuff."

"Hmm…well, it's almost 9:30. Shouldn't we start heading over?"

"Is it really? Damn, we better get going."

The three hurried out of the room and started the trek to the soccer house. It was about a ten minute walk and the air was nippy. Anna gathered her arms into herself as she marched, willing herself not to shiver. Suddenly, a warmth encompassed her back, along with a strong set of arms.

"You're shivering. Take my vest."

"Oh, no, I couldn't, what about you?"

Riley shook her head with a smile. "I'm good. Just take it."

"…Thank you."

"Don't mention it."

They ran into Kristoff when they were about halfway there. The large blond was dressed in a pair of tan work boots, a pair of black Levi's, and a white button-up that was stretched a little tightly over his muscles. He also wore an ice-blue tie. He gave Anna and Rapunzel a quick hug and bumped fists with Riley, while giving her an appraising look. She smiled softly and winked at him, chuckling when he blushed and looked away.

"You look good, Kris. Where's Flynn?"

"He went on ahead early to help them get everything ready. I heard they made Jell-O shots and weed brownies."

"You're kidding," Riley said. "There's gonna be weed brownies there?"

"Indeed."

"Hell yeah! I know where I'm going first."

"You must really love pot," Rapunzel teased.

"Well, that and I can't remember the last time I got cross-faded. What better place than the first party of the year?"

"I like the way you think!" The two exchanged a high-five.

"Wait, I just thought of something," Riley said as she lowered her hand.

"Quick, stomp on that thought before it gets away."

"Screw you. Why didn't we pre-game?"

"Oh, you don't need to worry about that," Kristoff spoke up. "There was enough alcohol bought to satisfy an army. You'll be plenty fucked up before the night is done."

"That's what I like to hear. Are we nearly there?"

"You better not start asking, 'Are we there yet?' every five seconds."

"Hey! I only asked once, chill out. But seriously, are we there yet?"

"Dude, I'll smack you."

"Try it, I dare you."

"I'll do it!"

"You ain't got the stones!"

"What the hell does that mean?"

"You've never heard that expression?"

"I've heard, 'You ain't got the balls.' What the hell are stones?"

"I do believe they are small rocks of any sha-."

"That's not what I meant!" Rapunzel interrupted.

"That's what you asked!"

"Guys!" Anna cut in. "We're here."

Riley looked up to spot the soccer house. "Oh, look at that, we are here. Last one inside is a rotten egg!"

"You're such a child."

"Why don't you just shit on my dreams while you're at it?"

"Well, don't we exaggerate?"

"You know," Anna cut in again. "I'm _really _starting to regret letting you two meet." She accompanied her words with a pointed look.

Riley held up her hands. "Sorry, sorry. We'll play nice, won't we, Punzie?"

"Oh, sure, Ri-Ri, we'll play _real _nice."

"You scare me sometimes."

"Good."

When they walked inside, they were immediately greeted by loud music, dimmed lights, and Flynn. It was clear he'd already started the night's festivities, as his cheeks were a healthy flush of red. "What's up, guys?" he greeted quite loudly. "Welcome to the party!" He led them over to a side table, where several red Solo cups filled to the brim with beer sat. "Please grab your first drink of the night here. There are trash bags placed all over the house, so no cups or any shit on the floor, alright?"

Riley poked him on the arm. "Where's the hard stuff?"

"Ah-ha! My kind of girl. May I escort you? And I'll add that the harder liquor is conveniently placed next to the weed brownies."

"Perfect." Riley looped her arm around his left and he turned and offered his right to Rapunzel, who took it with a blush and a smile. Flynn looked back at Kristoff and Anna. "You two can follow or go mingle."

"We'll follow you for now," the blond responded. "Lead on, roomie."

He maneuvered them through the crowded living room and into the kitchen. They bumped into several bodies but everyone was too busy having a good time to get mad over the little shit.

When they reached their destination, Flynn opened a cabinet and pulled out a few shot glasses, placing them next to a bottle of Jack Daniels. "I hope you all like whiskey."

Rapunzel and Anna nodded while Riley screwed up her nose. "Heck no. Where's the tequila?"

"My, but you are a brave soul."

"What can I say? I was raised on the good stuff."

"Clearly." Flynn walked to the other side of the counter where the rest of the alcohol sat and glanced at the bottles, finally locating the Jose Cuervo and bringing it over to the rest of them. "Here you are, my lady."

"Why thank you, kind sir."

All of them poured out a shot of their drinks and raised their glasses. "To a great fucking night," Riley said.

They all echoed her statement and tossed their drinks back. "Who's up for another?" Riley immediately asked.

Rapunzel was the only one who responded in the affirmative. The raven-haired girl smirked. "What say we make this interesting?"

"I'm all ears."

"Two words: drinking contest."

"Two more words: bring it."

"You'll be eating those words in no time. Or puking them up, I guess."

Rapunzel shook her head and made to grab the whiskey but Riley smacked her hand away. "Oh no, my dear. We play hardball or no ball at all."

"Fine by me. Doesn't matter what we drink, I'll still own you."

"I don't think so. Come the end of the night, you'll be my bitch."

Anna raised her hand quickly. "Sorry, Riley, she's already my bitch."

"Damn it. Wanna be my ho instead?"

"I should slap you for that."

"I don't know…might turn me on."

"There's no off button with you, is there?"

"I could ask you the same thing."

"Touché," Rapunzel replied with a smirk and raised her shot of tequila. "You ready?"

"Let's do this." Riley clinked their glasses together and both girls threw back their drinks. The older one had them refilled within a few seconds and a third shot was downed, then a fourth, and a fifth, and a sixth.

"Whoo!" Riley cried when she finished her sixth. "I have to say, I'm impressed. Most people can't keep up with me."

"Pff…keep up with you? You're a lightweight!" Rapunzel shot back.

"Oh? Think you can keep going, yeah?"

"Damn straight."

Off to the side, Kristoff and Anna had been watching the girls for half an hour, periodically drifting off to grab another beer or a snack. The strawberry blonde was already feeling pretty buzzed. Unlike Rapunzel and Riley, she _was _a lightweight.

"Hey, guys!"

The quartet all looked in the direction of the voice. It was Aurora, with Ariel at her side. The two were dressed similarly to Riley, minus the vest, and had even gone an extra mile and wiped dirt all over their bodies.

"Having a drinking contest?"

"Sure are." Rapunzel pointed at Riley. "This dumbass challenged me to one."

Riley rolled her eyes with a smirk. "_This dumbass _prefers to be referred to as 'Riley'." She stuck out a hand. "Nice to meet you two, I'm Riley, not that I didn't say that like two seconds ago."

Aurora shook her hand first. "I'm Aurora."

Ariel was next. "Ariel."

"Are you two on the soccer team as well?"

"Yeah, I'm actually one of the captains."

"Nice! Actually, speaking of soccer, who plays center defense?"

"That would be Snow-."

"Someone talkin' about me?" Snow appeared in the doorway with a beer in one hand. Anna didn't think she could wear less clothes if she tried.

"Speak of the devil and he doth appear," Rapunzel muttered.

Snow glared at her. "What was that?"

"Nothing."

"That's what I thought." She turned her gaze to Riley, who was smirking softly at her. "Who the fuck are you and what the fuck are you smirking at?"

"My, aren't you a bright spot in a dark room?" Riley put out her hand again. "I'm Riley, and you must be Snow. It's nice to meet you."

Snow smiled sweetly and reached out-

-only to pour out the remainder of her beer onto Riley's hand. She then let the bottle slip out and Riley had to jump back a little to avoid the debris from the bottle shattering against the floor.

"Look what you did, dumb bitch! You made me drop my drink." Snow gave her a dark smile now. "Guess that means you have to fetch me another one."

"And why the hell would I do that? You're the one who poured it out and dropped the bottle."

"No, no, I don't think that's what happened. Now, go get me another drink."

"And if I say 'no'?"

"Then I may say, 'Get the fuck out of my house.'"

"You live here?"

"I live here."

"Why don't you wait right there? I'll go get your drink." Riley turned on her heel and left the kitchen, heading for one of the many coolers by the front door.

"What the hell, Snow? Why'd you do that?" Rapunzel asked hotly.

"I don't believe I have to answer to jumped-up little pricks."

Aurora sighed and held up her hands. "Snow, chill."

"Why does everyone always take their side?"

"I'm not taking anyone's side. I'm trying to defuse tension so we can all get back to having a good time."

"Hmph."

"And where's Elsa?"

"I'm not her fucking babysitter."

"I guess that means you're talking about me?"

All heads turned to spot the newcomer to their little party. Anna's breath hitched. Elsa as a cavewoman was _sexy_ as all kinds of hell. She too was dressed similar to Riley but instead of a fur vest, she had hooked a few faux fur tails to hang behind her legs. The small amount of clothing she wore on her upper torso left her toned abdomen on full display. Anna had only glimpsed hints of the muscles behind tight clothing but now, there was nothing in her way.

_Holy…breathe, Anna, breathe…_

Riley's had been more well-defined, that much was true. But, Elsa was taller and leaner and the redhead was practically drooling.

"Hey, Els. Glad to see you could make it."

"You know me. I'm always fashionably late." The platinum blonde turned to Snow. "What happened to the beer I got you?"

"Some freshman bitch made me-."

"I didn't make you do shit." Riley had rejoined them, toting two beers.

"Glad to see you're obedient, but why did you bring me two?"

"I'm not obedient. And the second one is for me." Riley handed one drink to Snow and opened the other for herself.

"Did you not just bring me a beer because I told you too?" Snow asked innocently. "Sounds pretty obedient to me."

"Aye, I brought you one but it was solely because you threatened to kick me out."

"She's not the only one who lives here," Elsa assured Riley. "I wouldn't have let her kick you out."

Snow snorted. "Sounds like you think you could've stopped me."

"Sounds like you don't think I could've."

"That's because I _don't _think you could've."

Riley moved over to Anna and whispered in her ear, "That's Elsa's girlfriend, isn't it?"

"How'd you know?"

"I'm a genius," she replied with a wink. Straightening up, she spoke louder, "Snow, I think you should be careful how much longer you treat your girlfriend like shit."

"What the hell is it to you?"

"I'm just saying, she's gorgeous, yeah? Don't you think there are a shit ton of people who would love the chance to date her?"

"What's your point?"

"That's a mighty thick skull you've got there."

"Better watch it, you little cunt. You don't know the things I could do to you."

"I'm shaking in my boots. Why don't you go terrorize some small children somewhere?"

Snow advanced on Riley, but Elsa stepped between them and laid a warning hand on Snow's shoulder. "Snow, that's enough."

"She's the one who-!"

"That's enough," Elsa repeated more forcefully.

Snow scoffed and whirled around, departing the kitchen and shouting at anyone who bumped into her as she made for the stairs.

"Huh. I guess you can stop her, eh?" Riley joked.

Elsa smiled. "Thanks for sticking up for me."

"Of course. I'm not one to let a beautiful lady suffer."

"And you're quite the charmer."

"Ha! You should see me in bed." Riley grabbed the bottle of Jose Cuervo, poured another shot, downed it, made her way to the plate of weed brownies, took one, and bit into it deeply. As she chewed, she sighed dreamily. "Oh, that's good. Well, I've had enough of you bores. I'm gonna go have some fun. Late!" She disappeared into the throng.

"Well, that was quite the spectacle," Aurora noted. "I think we're gonna go mingle as well. Later!" She and Ariel departed too.

Flynn and Rapunzel were off in a corner now that the excitement had dulled, which left Anna, Kristoff, and Elsa.

"How are you enjoying your first party so far, Anna?"

"Oh, it's…fun. We've only been here for like an hour."

"Shit, then you haven't even started partying yet. Come on, Kristoff, let's get her hammered."

"I'm _way _ahead of you." The blond took the bottle of tequila and poured a shot. He held it out to Anna. "Drink up, feisty-pants."

"Oh, I don't-I don't think-."

"I don't want to hear it. It's your first college party and I'll be damned if you don't have a great time. Drink. Up."

She took the glass from him and eyed it warily. The golden liquid sat still within its confines, patiently waiting for the redhead. Anna glanced back at her best friend. She knew he wouldn't give her anything he didn't think she could handle. She trusted the man like a brother…he _was _her brother. And her brother always looked out for her.

Her eyes quickly roved to Elsa standing on his left. The blonde gave an encouraging smile and Anna melted a little.

_Shit, why not? Let's get wasted._

After taking a deep breath, she tossed the shot back as quickly as she could, wincing as it trailed a path of fire down her throat. A few moments later, however, the heat faded and left her feeling kind of warm inside.

Kristoff refilled her glass and she drank that one too. When the heat faded this time, it took slightly longer and left her feeling slightly warmer.

After her third, the warm feeling was replaced with one of toasty content. She was sure that her dopiness was evident in the loopy smile she couldn't get rid of.

"And there we go. Give it a couple hours, Anna, and we'll come back and renew your subscription." He chuckled at his own joke.

"You're…stupid," she replied. Whoa, when did she start talking so slowly?

"And you're drunk," he laughed as he drank his own shot after clinking glasses with Elsa.

"You're just…jealous."

"A little, yeah. Which is why we're gonna catch up. Get on your level."

Nine shots (three for Elsa and six for Kristoff) and eight minutes was all it took for them to join Anna in being delightfully drunk.

"Alright!" Kristoff roared. "Time to party!"

The kitchen and surrounding rooms erupted in cheers. Anna laughed loudly, slapping her blond's chest. "Kri-Kris, you're being so…rowdy."

"You'd better get used to it! It'll get rowdier still!"

"No, no, it's fucking awesome!" Now that the alcohol had had a chance to circulate her systems, Anna was pumped, feeling great, and ready to party til the break of dawn. "Now, come on! What's next?"

"Beer pong!" someone cried.

Anna whipped her head to the right to see Riley grinning widely at them, her eyes slightly glassy and unfocused, a brownie in one hand. Her eyes lit up when they fell on the chocolate and she reached out subconsciously, unable to see the empty beer can her foot was fatefully heading for. Next thing she knew, she was on the ground, her face pressed between Riley's breasts. She lifted herself up from the warm body beneath her, cursing the blush that started at her cheeks and worked its way down her neck.

When Riley poked her forehead, she then registered that she was now straddling the Irish exchange student and her face grew even hotter.

Of all the things she expected Riley to do, perhaps reprimand her for being an idiot or even get mad, she was not anticipating a loud bark of laughter. A dam seemed to break, and then Riley had clonked her head back against the floor as tears streamed from her eyes. Anna could do nothing but stare at her confusedly, her precarious position momentarily forgotten.

The other girl was showing no signs of letting up, so the redhead punched her in the shoulder. Riley's face grew serious for a moment, before another bout of laughter had her holding on to her sides.

"Did you…did you see…your _face?_" she spluttered. "Oh my…I've never…_oof!_"

Anna, in her intoxicated state, had slapped Riley across the face. Hard. "Stop laughing at me!" As the older girl just stared at her, reason started coiling through her mind, alerting her to what she'd just done, and she brought a hand to her mouth. "Oh my gosh, Riley, I am _so _sorry! I don't know what-!"

A snort stopped her apology mid-sentence. Even louder laughter than before erupted from Riley's mouth. Anna could once again only regard her with a dumbstruck look. _How can she be laughing? I just _slapped _her in the face!_

"Let me…let me up! I can't…oh, shit, I can't even…!"

Anna quickly got up and Riley jumped to her feet, holding on to the counter for support as she broke down. After a good five minutes, she wiped her eyes and took a deep breath.

"Holy shit, Anna, I haven't laughed that hard since Braden-." She sucked in another breath as the name left her lips and for a moment, the redhead thought tears weren't far from the surface. Then, Riley shook her head slightly and the lazy grin returned. "Anyway, I'm sorry if I offended you." A pointed look was shot Anna's way as Riley rubbed her cheek.

"I am _so _fucking sorry about that. I don't know why I slapped you."

"I do." She threw an arm around the younger girl and squeezed her lovingly. "You're drunk! You'll probably end up doing a dozen things you'd never do tonight!"

"You're not mad?" she asked softly.

"Didn't I once tell you that if something bothered me, you'd know?"

"Yeah, but…"

"But nothing. It'll take _way _more than that for you to offend me. Now let's go! Beer pong awaits!" She turned her gaze to Elsa. "Rumor has it you're the reigning champion. I challenge you!"

Elsa smirked, a light blush dusting her cheeks from the alcohol. "Hope you won't mind when I hand you your ass."

"Oh-ho!" Riley roared. "She's got a backbone! And here I was thinking you'd politely turn me down."

Elsa raised a hand to her chest in mock surprise. "I cannot refuse a challenge! Then what rumors might they start?"

"Only too true, my dear. Let us make sure that no bad rumors spring up." She then noticed Rapunzel and Flynn off in the corner and nodded in their direction. "Should we invite them?"

"No, let's leave her," Anna replied. "She'd probably curse us out if we interrupted her now."

"Aye, you're probably right." She clapped a hand on Elsa's back. "Lead on, Elsa!"

* * *

"So, what are the teams?" Elsa asked as they reached their destination. A large group of people were gathered around the beer pong table, where a game was nearly finished, although Anna couldn't see who was playing.

Riley scratched her head. "I'm not sure…I didn't think that far ahead." She thought for a moment before grinning. "I'll take Kristoff. You can have Anna."

"You don't want me, Riley?" Anna pouted.

"I think someone else may want you more," she replied instantly. Her grin widened when both Anna and Elsa reddened.

The game ended and a familiar voice rose up to jeer, "Fuck yeah! You guys sucked!"

Elsa rolled her eyes. "That sounds like my girlfriend." She practically spit the last word out and Riley nudged Anna with a knowing wink.

"Who's next?" Snow called.

"They are!" Riley replied quickly and pushed Elsa and Anna through the crowd to the table.

Snow turned their way and immediately scowled. "Figures you'd squirm your way in, freshman. You'd better not forget whose girlfriend she is."

"Believe me, Snow, I haven't forgotten. You stomp around like a caveman, declaring her yours even when you treat her like shit."

Silence fell when Anna finished speaking. Her eyes widened slightly when she realized her thought was spoken aloud but she wouldn't back down or take back her words. She _couldn't._ There was a reason they called it liquid courage.

"What the _fuck _did you just say to me, bitch?" Snow snarled menacingly.

She really should've been more careful with her words. But even she had had enough of Snow. "I didn't stutter, did I?"

And then, Snow advanced on her. One fist was cocked back and Anna steeled herself, waiting for a punch that never even came close.

Riley stepped in front of her, one hand lazily catching Snow's fist. "Why are you so determined to ruin people's nights?"

Snow pulled her hand away with a growl. "Fuck you, you stupid mick."

An even louder silence reigned after that. Riley blinked slowly, a frown starting to contort her features. "I'm sorry. I don't think I quite caught that."

Snow smiled darkly. "I guess you are a stupid mick, then."

The younger girl said nothing this time. Her friends watched her quietly, all unsure of what to say. It remained this way for a few minutes.

It was broken by a slurred shout. "Hey, guys! What's going on?" It was Rapunzel, hanging off an equally inebriated Flynn. When no one answered her, the pair shuffled over to stand by Anna, Elsa, and Kristoff.

"Hey, ginger ale, what's happening? Why's everyone so quiet?" the brunette tried for a muted whisper but her question was still heard by all.

"Well, Snow called Riley a…a mick, I think? But I'm not entirely sure what that means…"

"It's a racial slur," Tiana snarled. _When did she get here?_ "It's like calling me a 'nigger.'"

"Oh, hell no!" Rapunzel shouted. "You crossed the line, you stupid-!"

"Rapunzel, calm down!" Flynn attempted to pull her away but the brunette had a strength she must have been hiding. The alcohol probably helped as well. She tore herself from his arms and stomped to Snow, thrusting a finger in her face. "Who the fuck do you think you are, huh?"

A hand gently lowered Rapunzel's finger. It was the first action Riley had performed for a solid five minutes. She smiled at her friend. "I'm touched that you're jumping to my defense but it's alright." She set a steely gaze on Snow. "Someone who uses racial slurs simply has nothing intelligent left to say."

Snow snarled and cocked another fist back. Riley caught it yet again but this time she whirled around and ended up behind Snow, twisting the arm behind Snow's back painfully.

"Ah, fuck! Let me go!"

Riley swept out a leg and Snow fell to her knees, giving her better leverage to twist the arm even more. "I should break it. Or maybe, I should break your fucking jaw for speaking to me like that," she said. She twisted the arm a little more and for a moment, Anna was afraid she _would _break it. But then, she released Snow and the senior slumped forward to the ground, clutching her injured appendage. "But if I did that, you'd be out of soccer. It's your last year. I won't take that away from you. You'll be a bit sore for a couple days but you'll heal."

Snow got to her feet, glaring at the younger girl. Riley crossed her arms and returned the glare. "Now is when you slink away to retain what little of your decency you have left."

The senior spat on the floor by Riley's feet. "This isn't over, _mick._"

Anna stepped forward now. "I think it is. You should leave, Snow, before this gets worse for you."

Snow's glare turned to her. "Fuck off, Hagen. This doesn't concern you."

"She's my friend. So, yeah, it does concern me. But don't forget, we're not alone here. So I'd think carefully about what you choose to do next."

The older woman looked at Elsa. "Well? You gonna take their side, like always?"

Elsa just regarded her coolly, unresponsive. Snow laughed humorlessly. "Of course you are. Fuck all of you, then." She shoved her way through the crowd, headed toward the stairs for the second time.

Riley clapped her hands. "Well, that was certainly fun, wasn't it?" She glanced at Elsa, waiting until their eyes connected. "Real winner you have there."

When both Elsa and Anna frowned at her, for different reasons, she shrugged. "Truth hurts, I know."

"Riley," Anna warned with a quick glance at Elsa. "Maybe you shouldn't…"

"Shouldn't what? Tell the truth? You know, you're right. I should lie and say that Snow is the perfect woman for you, Elsa. You shouldn't let her go no matter how many great reasons she's given you. In fact, why don't you just join in on her fun?"

"Watch it, Riley," was Elsa's gritted response.

If anything, this just spurred her on more. "Why? What are you gonna do? Stare at me in silence like you did with her?"

"Just shut up! You have no idea what you're talking about!" the blonde replied hotly.

Riley smirked. "So there's fire to you yet. I have to ask, though: how is it that you'll immediately lash out at me, who's done nothing to you except speak the truth, yet you'll do nothing to the woman who makes it her daily goal to make everyone's life a living hell?"

"I don't-."

"How is that you've remained with her, in spite of all the things she's done?" Riley bulldozed over her.

"You don't understand-!"

"So make me understand! Make _us _understand!" She gestured at Rapunzel, Flynn, Anna, and Kristoff. "Help the people who care about you and don't like seeing you torture yourself understand _why_."

Elsa turned away, hugging her sides. She looked as though she was trying to collapse in on herself. Anna had never seen the blonde look so…vulnerable.

"Like I said…you don't understand. None of you do. And I'd appreciate it if you didn't strut around like you know everything."

"Do I do that?" Riley sounded genuinely confused. "That's not what I mean to do. Like anyone else here, there's plenty I don't know. What I _do _know, however, is that you deserve someone far better than her."

"…No. I don't. I really don't."

Before anyone could stop her, Elsa was striding away, following in Snow's footsteps.

* * *

She took the stairs one at a time and very slowly. Part of it was because she was still pretty drunk but most of it was her heart. It felt extremely heavy.

Riley didn't understand. Anna didn't understand. No one understood. She knew they cared for her, and she for them, but they were wrong.

She didn't deserve any better. She was impure, disgusting. Snow knew it. She knew it. No one else knew. And she'd keep it that way for as long as possible.

As she trudged up the stairs, she found herself thinking back to that fateful day…

"…_not as hard as you think, Elsa. You're an extremely bright woman."_

_She blushed. It seemed she always blushed around them. "Th-thank you, sir."_

"_What are you thanking me for? I'm just telling you the truth," he said with a smile. She began placing her homework back into her shoulder bag. "Oh, now that I remember, how's the book I lent you? Are you enjoying it?"_

"_Yes, sir. I'm starting to see why you said it was one of your favorites."_

"_Good! I still can't believe you haven't read __To Kill A Mockingbird__ before your freshman year of college! And with all of the novels you told me you've already read, too."_

_She blushed even more as he laughed, pushing his glasses higher up on the bridge of his nose. "I'm just teasing you, Elsa."_

"_I-I know, sir. I'm sorry. I'm not very good…with this."_

"_With this? Talking to your professor? You didn't strike me as the shy type."_

_Normally, she would agree with him. But for some reason, he made her blush and stutter like a little schoolgirl harboring her first secret crush. It was ridiculous, and embarrassing._

_He took notice of her silence. Frowning, he placed a hand over hers on the table, unaware of what it was doing to his poor student. "I'm sorry, Elsa, I didn't mean to say anything offensive."_

_Oh, god. There it was again. That urge to just lean forward and press her lips to his, to show him that she wasn't some shy little eighteen year-old. She was a woman, fresh out of high school and her awkward teenage years._

"_Elsa? Are you alright?"_

_He was always so concerned about her, about all of his students. It was no wonder why he was a favorite amongst all of the university._

"_Elsa? You're starting to worry me. Please say something!"_

_She said nothing. All she did was lean over and connect their lips. His were soft and cool, tasting of mint. She pressed insistently, wanting to be closer to the man._

_He pulled away suddenly, his fingers jumping to the wedding band on his left hand and beginning to mess with it, his eyes filled with worry and guilt. Then, all at once, the gravity of what she'd just done hit her._

"_I-I am so sorry! I didn't mean-I didn't want-I'm sorry!" she cried and burst into tears, covering her face with her hands._

_Her professor reached out, lowering her hands. "Please don't cry, Elsa. It's unbecoming of a beautiful young woman."_

"_B-but I-."_

"_Don't worry about it. I'm not angry. In fact, I'm confused."_

"_What do you mean?"_

"_Why are you paying any attention to me, an old married professor, when there are so many students out there that would give anything to have the attentions of someone like you?"_

"_You're not old, you're only thirty-two. And…because…I don't know. Because you're kind to me, and you worry about me and all your students, and you're such a good man, and I've gone and ruined everything!" Fresh tears leaked from the corners of her eyes._

_He used a thumb to gently wipe them away. "You've done nothing wrong, at least not in my eyes. Romantic feelings, love…we don't usually choose who we become attracted to. Just…ah, the university will not look on it as kindly as I, so it would be best if we kept it between ourselves."_

_She nodded. "Yes, sir. Thank you."_

_He shook his head. "You too are a good person, Elsa. And one day someone will love you wholly because of who you are. Just be patient; you'll find each other."_

That had been the last day she'd seen her professor…

When she looked up from the ground, Elsa was surprised to see that she was standing in front of Snow's door. How long she'd been there, she didn't know. She figured, though, that her subconscious knew the two of them needed to have a long-overdue talk. As she raised her hand to knock, a sudden breathy giggle gave her pause.

Snow didn't giggle.

Dreading what she'd find, she pushed open the door to find her girlfriend on top of another girl, one hand beneath the fur skirt and the other cradling the girl's head as she nipped at her throat.

The girl, head thrown back and eyes screwed shut in passion, was releasing muted moans as she wrapped her arm tighter around Snow's neck.

Elsa was speechless. Never, in all her dark thoughts, had she believed Snow would cheat on her. But here she was, wrist-deep in another girl.

She did the only thing she could think of; she slammed the door behind her loudly and the two on the bed started and glared over at her, though Snow's did fade into an 'oh shit' look as she realized just who had interrupted her and her latest conquest.

"Oh, fuck…"

"I can't believe you!" Elsa snapped. Her muteness forgotten, now she was nothing but a vessel of anger and hurt. "After all the _shit _you've done, and all the times I said _nothing _to you, you're gonna go and fuck some other girl?! Are you fucking kidding me?!"

"Elsa, hold on, I can explain-."

"There is _nothing _to explain! I stuck by your side through all of it and you still decided to stomp on my heart!" She stood there, shaking with rage. "We. Are. Done."

"What?"

"You heard me! We're fucking _done, _Snow White!" With that, she pulled open the door again and stormed out of the room, slamming it shut behind her.

At the bottom of the stairs stood most of the players from both of the soccer teams, as well as Riley. Each wore a similar expression: a mix of sadness and anger. The rest of the partygoers seemed unaware that anything had transpired.

Hans was the first to step forward. She hadn't seen her brother all night; she immediately ran to him and collapsed into his arms.

"Oh, geez, Els, I am so sorry," he murmured into her hair.

"Where the hell have you been?" she mumbled into his shoulder.

"It's Friday, remember?"

"Mom and Dad called?"

"Yup. Wanted all the dirty details. It took me an hour to get them off the phone and then I had to get ready…"

She released him. "And we all know it takes you hours to get ready. You're such a woman sometimes."

This elicited laughs from several members of their group and Hans sighed. "Well! I can't say I deserve such cutting words."

"No, but I can think of one person who does."

Right on cue, said person emerged from her room and made her way to the stairs. "Wait, Elsa, we need to talk about-."

Hans stepped in front of her protectively. "I don't think so, Snow. Obviously, she wants nothing to do with you anymore so back the fuck up."

"Fuck off. I'm talking to Elsa." She looked at the blonde with a smirk. "Hopefully, you haven't forgotten about your little…incident?"

She paled. Snow's smirk grew wider. "Good. Then I'll give you the rest of the weekend to re-think your decision about our break-up."

A new voice rose. "You can't be serious." Her eyes widened as she realized it was Anna who was speaking.

"I'm sorry, was I talking to you, bitch?"

"No, but _I_ am talking to _you_, so you're gonna shut up and listen."

Snow was stunned into silence so Anna continued. "She has done nothing to you. Most of us have done nothing to you, nothing to earn the utter _bitch _that you've been to us. You treat everyone like shit but Elsa gets the worst of it, it seems. I can't possibly fathom why she put up with you for so long. None of us can." She stepped closer, fueled by alcohol and adrenaline. "It takes someone truly vile to cheat on someone else so undeserving. So, I highly suggest you go back up to your room and stay there. The rest of us have had enough of you for one night."

All of her fellow players burst into cheers. Snow could do little else but exactly what Anna had suggested, and disappeared back into her room.

Riley clapped Anna on the back. "Shit, if Elsa isn't trying to get into your pants within the next five minutes, I'd honestly be surprised," she whispered. Anna shushed her, though she was smiling. She felt good. Great, even. She'd stood up to that raging douchebag and she was on top of the world.

She chanced a glance at Elsa and faltered when she found that the platinum blonde was staring right at her, her eyes shining with adoration and…something else.

Elsa was stunned, like the rest, at Anna's defense of her, but she wasn't just stunned. She was flattered, touched, happy, and…intrigued. She had always thought Anna was beautiful, she had the moment the younger redhead had bravely asked what SIHA meant. But she had never let her thoughts stray much further than that, solely because of Snow. Regardless of how she felt toward the senior, she had agreed to be in a committed relationship. Elsa was no cheater.

Now, though…she was free to admire Anna fully: the gorgeous red hair, the teal eyes that could be so expressive, the cute nose, the pink lips that looked so soft, her breasts, her abs, her ass, her legs…everything that was Anna was now within an arm's reach.

But, did the strawberry blonde feel the same?

She had little time to ponder the question before an idea struck her and she decided to run with it, half-cocked as it was. She walked over to Anna and asked, "Feel like taking a walk with me?"

Anna looked confused and even glanced quickly at Riley . Elsa's chest tightened. _She's into Riley, isn't she?_

Then, Anna replied, "Sure, lead on!"

Elsa smiled and let Anna head for the door first. When she herself glanced at Riley, the Irish exchange student shot her a shit-eating grin and a thumbs-up.

_Wait, what?_

* * *

The two walked in silence for a little while, Elsa a few steps in front. Anna was stealing looks at the junior whenever she thought she wouldn't get caught.

Elsa looked sad, of course, but also sort of relieved and happy. Why, she couldn't exactly say, though she knew some of it had to have been because she and Snow were no longer a thing.

"You and Riley seem pretty close," Elsa suddenly said.

"Hmm? Oh, yeah! She's really cool and fun. I like being around her."

Elsa's chest tightened again. Maybe Anna was into Riley but Riley didn't feel the same?

"But she's just a friend."

Her chest relaxed. "Oh? I thought it was something more."

Anna frowned, thinking. "Well, I may have been attracted to her in the beginning but…someone else had already captured my attention." _Oh, shit, Anna, why'd you say that? She _just _got out of a committed relationship! I mean, sure, it sucked for her, but still! You just can't keep it in your pants, can you?_

As she mentally reprimanded herself, she didn't notice Elsa's breathing hitch. She was wholly unprepared for the next question. "Who is it?"

"What?"

Elsa slowed to a stop. "Who is it?" she repeated louder.

_Shit, shit, shit, shit. Think, Hagen..._

"Um…well, they're gorgeous, and kind, and funny, and smart, and fun, and…well, I just think they're all-around amazing." _Good, good. Stay vague. Admit to nothing._

Elsa resumed walking, a small smile playing on her face. "They do sound pretty amazing."

"They are. Everyone thinks so. I just don't think she believes it herself," Anna said as she caught up. She didn't notice her mistake but Elsa did.

_She…? Someone who doesn't believe they're amazing even though everyone else does…?_

And then she figured it out.

_Oh, Anna…_

She was surprised when a hand slipped into hers, squeezing softly. "I'm an idiot. I've done nothing but act like a selfish jerk and talk about myself." She looked up into her captain's eyes. "Are you okay, Elsa?"

When Elsa didn't reply and instead stared back down at her, she panicked. "Oh, god, I didn't upset you, did I? I'm sorry! I mean, obviously you're not okay and I shouldn't have asked but I'm an idiot and-."

Her words were cut off when Elsa took her face in her hands and brought their mouths together. Anna was shocked, her eyes wide and her arms hanging uselessly at her side. A few moments, however, and her body kicked into action. Her eyelids fluttered shut and her arms rose to encircle Elsa's lithe waist.

Their kiss was sweet fire. Their lips melded together perfectly and Anna moaned when Elsa took her bottom one between her teeth and pulled, a slightly painful but not unpleasant twinge being soothed almost immediately as Elsa dived back in and reconnected their lips, running her tongue over the pain.

Warmth was pooling in Anna's lower abdomen and it didn't help that there were very little clothes between the both of them. She unconsciously began tracing patterns in the soft but firm skin of Elsa's back, her fingers moving to tease the upper part of Elsa's ass. The blonde panted into Anna's mouth and one hand dropped from her face and wrapped around her neck. She pushed forward a little and somehow deepened the kiss.

Unfortunately, Anna's mind finally caught up to her body and she broke the kiss, both young women letting out heavy breaths that puffed into visibility from the chilly air. Anna didn't think she'd ever felt warmer.

"Do you want to go back? Maybe go up to my room?" Elsa murmured as she ran a thumb along Anna's jaw, taking note of a scar along the right side of it.

Anna's mind jumped into action now and she shook her head forcefully, instantly regretting it at the look of hurt that flashed through Elsa's eyes. "Shit, no, I don't…I mean, I _do. _God, Elsa…I would love to go back to your room, trust me. I just…" She lowered her eyes to a spot somewhere on Elsa's neck so she lightly grasped the strawberry blonde's chin and met her eyes again.

"What is it, Anna?"

"Do _you _really want this?"

Now Elsa was the one to be shocked. "What do you mean?"

"You just broke it off with Snow…"

"…You think I'm just looking for a rebound." Not a question, but a statement.

Anna nodded slowly.

"I…don't know. I know I think you're beautiful and one of the best people I've ever had the pleasure of meeting. I've thought so since we first met."

"You think I'm beautiful?"

"Of course I do. And I doubt I'm the only one." She placed a soft kiss to Anna's forehead. "But you're right. I don't want this."

Anna tried to keep her utter disappointment out of her voice. "Okay." She started to pull away from the embrace but Elsa held her steadfast.

"Where do you think you're going, Anna?" she teased.

"I…didn't you just say…?"

"I meant I didn't want you to just be a rebound. You deserve better than that."

_You deserve better than me, _the voice in her head corrected her. That little voice had been assaulting her skull ever since that day…

But it wasn't like it was wrong.

"What the hell, Elsa?" Anna asked angrily. "How can you say that I deserve better than you? Is that really how you see yourself?"

The blonde blinked, unaware that the little voice in her head had been her own voice out loud. "I…"

"Is that what Snow told you? That you're unworthy of anyone? Anyone but her?"

"She was right," Elsa whispered. "She was right."

"You can't think of yourself like that! She's wrong! You deserve so much more-!"

"No, I don't!" She broke away from the embrace and hugged herself, doubts and insecurities boiling to the surface. "You don't understand…none of you do. If you knew what I did, the horrible thing I did, you'd think the same."

"Elsa, I would never!"

"You say that because you're ignorant to the truth! Snow…I was so angry at her but I'm no better!"

"Elsa, you are better." Anna moved closer to the junior and took her hands in hers. "While I am ignorant of what happened, just the fact that you're beating yourself up for it speaks volumes!"

Elsa tugged her hands away. Anna could see that the blonde was far away from their conversation. "No. Just…leave me alone, Anna. It'll make your life so much easier."

She walked off after that, leaving Anna behind with nothing but tingling lips and a cloud of confusion.

* * *

**A/N: HEY, HEY, HEY! Lookie at who's so nice, giving you guys a chapter that's like 9000 words. I mean, it is to make up for the fact I was gone for so long, but still! Aren't I just the sweetest? :D**

**It's been so long since I've done this….SOCCAH HUMAH!**

**Mkay! Why did the soccer ball quit his team? Wait for it, WAIT FOR IT….**

**He was tired of being kicked around! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH GEDDIT?**

**-DeanneYunFarron**

**P.S. Since I spent almost the entire day writing this out, heh heh, I didn't do as good a job of proofreading as I should've so if you see anything, shoot me a message or some chizz so I can go and fix it. Mebbe. BYEEEEE!**


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